Part 1: Fullmetal meets Marvel
by cherrishish
Summary: The deal with Truth goes wrong when Edeline tries to get her brother's body back and gets sent to the Marvel universe instead of having to give up her alchemy. Will she ever be able to get home to Amestris? fem!Ed story, crossover with Avengers, Agents of SHIELD and other Marvel universe movies. T for language.
1. Deals gone wrong

**A/N: Hi guys! In the last couple of days, I have read soooooo many crossovers for Fullmetal Alchemist that it isn't even funny. Anyhow… many of them got my interest, and I had an idea for fem!Ed since I didn't find any crossovers at all for that. So that's what this is going be. In the section selector, I opted for Avengers, but there will be characters from other stuff from Marvel too, like Agents of SHIELD especially in the beginning.**

 **Please review, let me know what you think!**

 **This is set in FMAB, when/after Ed gets Al's body back on the Promised Day. As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe… Post Age of Ultron movie but the timeline might get a little hazy with the other films after that for the purposes of the story, for Agents of SHIELD references beginning of season 3 [I know it just started, but I'm obsessed alright? So be warned of spoilers! But this story is AU of what went down in the actual series so many things won't be the same, I'm pretending like a lot of stuff didn't happen in season 2].**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Deals gone wrong**_

* * *

An all too familiar, great, white nothingness enveloped Edeline as she transmuted herself in order to make a deal with Truth to get Al's body back from the Gate. The blinding light was almost disorienting but given this not being her first rodeo so to speak, Ed just blinked twice to adjust as her eyes zoomed in on the outline of God.

"Well if it isn't the _little_ alchemist again!" the faceless being smirked sarcastically at the teenaged girl standing in front of it, enjoying even the anticipation of the infantile tantrum it was going to get to its taunts.

Ed desperately wanted to rant about the comment regarding her height – the words were at the tip of her tongue, ready to burst out – but she held herself back. She didn't want to get on the wrong side of Truth. The State Alchemist had a mission to fulfill, namely getting her precious brother back, whom she saw sitting in a lotus position just behind the ultimate being, finally reunited with his soul. The only outward signs of Ed's rage were the clenching of her fists and a vein popping out on her forehead as she tried to compose herself. Truth's face fell a little in disappointment once it realized that tame reaction was all its provocation was going to elicit.

"What do you want now?" it finally asked flatly.

"My brother," the blond alchemist stated with determination evident in her eyes, pointing right behind Truth at Al with her index finger to emphasize her demand.

"Oohhh! How interesting!" Truth got excited again hearing that news. "And just what might you have to sacrifice for him? This isn't going to be cheap," it mocked her with confidence. Little did it know that she had come ready with a plan.

"My gate," Ed supplied instantly pointing with her thumb over her shoulder at the intricately designed silver-colored door just behind her. Truth's face got serious again.

"Well, well, well. You do realize that means your alchemy, right? You could never access this place ever again," it explained with no mirth in its voice as it stared at Ed with its eyeless face.

"I am fully aware," Ed acknowledged with conviction and even more determination – if that was even possible – as she stared back right at it. Truth remained silent for a while pondering on the offer.

"Well, that just isn't going to cut it for me…" the white being remarked snidely with its evil smile Ed was all too acquainted with. It could mean no good. "Did you really think you would be able to set the price?"

A flash of fear crossed Edeline's features. She hadn't prepared for the possibility that her offer was going to be declined.

"Well then, here is _my_ proposition…" the little white man began as it got up from its lotus position and stood to face the girl who had been giving such enjoyment to it over the years. "In exchange for your brother to return to Amestris, _you_ have to go and live in another world, far, far away from him."

"Noooo!" came the protest from Al who had been sitting silently thus far, just observing. "It's not worth it, Sister!"

"Silence!" Truth bellowed in anger. "You are not the one I am negotiating with."

Ed stood in silence as she mulled over this new deal. _The price is always higher than what you are willing to pay, isn't it?_ – she thought grimly. But in her heart the alchemist knew, there wasn't really a price she wasn't willing to give for her little brother to have his normal life – _everything_ – back. She smiled a sad, apologetic smile at Al then turned to Truth.

"Fine. I will pay the price," she uttered with venom in her voice.

"Oh! Great! Great!" Truth rejoiced in a sort of childish way while Al still objected in the background. "By the way, I will be taking your arm back, but keep your alchemy. Who knows, I might still need you for your talents," the white man smirked slyly as it brought up another gate similar yet entirely different from hers and Al's. Ed didn't even have time to react to this new development when the little black hands started to grab them the both and pull them toward their designated gates.

"No, Sister, don't do this!" Al called out as he was almost swallowed by his gate. Ed just shook her head at him.

"It's fine, Al, please look after Winry for me!" she yelled back as a farewell.

"I will find you!" That was the last thing the younger brother could say as the gate closed behind him just at the same time as Ed's and she was swallowed by darkness.

* * *

Agent Coulson and his team were aboard the newly restored Bus as they liked to call it. In reality, it was a high-tech airplane with the most amazing gadgets and weaponry you could imagine. It had been a rather slow day in their line of work of finding gifted individuals or inhumans. That is until all the sensors went haywire, signaling a massive surge of energy in the vicinity of downtown New York.

"What happened?" Coulson asked Fitz-Simmons, as they were in charge of monitoring the devices at present. "Don't tell me it's the Chitauri again."

"I don't think so. The patterns are different, but it does seem like a portal was opened from somewhere," Fitz answered as he studied the different readings frantically. Coulson hit the button for the intercom to the cockpit.

"May, new destination. We are heading for New York," he commanded with a sense of urgency in his voice. An energy spike this big had surely been spotted by H.Y.D.R.A. or other agencies as well, and he wasn't going to take chances with someone else finding the cause before S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Yes, sir," May muttered as she immediately set the plane on the right course.

"Skye…" he began to the agent who just entered the room.

"Daisy," said agent corrected with fond irritation.

"Yeah, right, Daisy," Coulson winced apologetically. It was hard for him to get used to calling his gifted agent by her new – well actually old – name. "You and Hunter are coming with me, something happened in New York that we need to check out."

* * *

Bright blue sparks erupted from the asphalt as an elaborate circular array made of light appeared on the ground in a back alley of East Harlem. The strange occurrence passed almost as fast as it started and no one – except for the few mice scurrying away, frightened by the electricity in the air that came without warning – seemed to notice the light nor the slouched form that had appeared right in the middle of said array as the light faded away.

A few minutes had passed before the lump, covered by a bright red coat, twitched as a small groan erupted from within its folds. Ed finally mustered the energy to turn on her back and coughed a little as she took in a shuddering breath.

"That bastard Truth…" she muttered under her breath as she finally sat up, taking in her new surroundings.

She was in some sort of back alley with trash scattered everywhere, that much she could ascertain, but the bright red bricks and style of architecture was nothing like anything she had seen before, even in Central City. These buildings were much higher than the two or three story ones she was used to for a residential area, and Central HQ could hardly count for comparison, it stood on a hill.

Deciding that staying put in one place for too long was too risky wherever _here_ was, she tried to stand up, but her whole body ached and felt unnaturally heavy, with which sensation her _yet again_ two auto-mail limbs did not help one bit.

Using the brick wall for support, she pulled herself up and staggered toward what she assumed to be the exit from the stinky dump she was in, only to fast find herself at a dead end. With a frustrated grunt, she turned around and continued to track the other way, finally succeeding to find a way out after a few corners.

The street she happened upon was bustling with people minding their own business, not even one paying the slightest bit of attention to the disheveled teen leaning against the wall just a few feet from them. Quite fortunate to be honest, since the alchemist was busy trying to make sense of what she was seeing, staring blatantly at the alien structures, and had little capacity to spare to fend off incoming attacks or deal with the unwelcome scrutiny. There were weird looking and – to Ed at least – ridiculously fast cars zooming up and down the street, loudly honking at whatever that might be inclined to get in their way. The blond alchemist's head shot up at a weird noise, only to find a silver-colored metallic train of some sorts running above her head on rails that were held in the air by massive beams of steel.

Of course, she had been reasonably confident from the moment she had woken up that she wasn't in Amestris anymore, but the scenery before her just confirmed the fact further. Hell, she wasn't even in the same world anymore. This place seemed to be technologically way more advanced, and it made Ed wonder whether alchemy was existent here. Whether the fact that Truth hadn't taken her alchemy would be of any help in this place.

She didn't have too much time to ponder on that though because as she was still peering at the weird rails and tall buildings surrounding it, she sensed the atmosphere around her change. People suddenly started running away from where she stood, and the area cleared quickly out. She glanced around and noticed three people approaching her with guns pointed at her head.

* * *

Agent Coulson had the area around the alley where the surge of energy originated from evacuated as quickly as possible, and they had blocked the entrance to the road from both sides. As they got closer, they noticed a weird looking kid standing mesmerized at the corner of the back street they were just looking for.

The boy looked young, maybe sixteen, judged from the facial features but was short in stature. His most striking characteristic that Coulson could see was his bright golden hair that had an almost unnatural shade to it. He wore his hair in a loose braid that ended just below his shoulders, his long bangs unrestrained, framing his face with only one small lock sticking up in the middle where his hair was parted in the most bizarre cowlick the agent had ever seen. Looked too styled to be accidental, yet Coulson for the life of him couldn't imagine why anyone would want to intentionally have an antenna on their head. The teenager was dressed in black leather pants, a bright red coat and what seemed like a black shirt underneath that, also white gloves and platform boots that appeared to have the purpose of elevating his height.

Given the teen's strange appearance Phil was reasonably confident that he was the objective of their mission. He gestured to the other agents as the last of the civilians ran past them to the other side of the barricade, and began to approach the boy carefully. Just then the target, who so far had been oblivious to the happenings around him, tensed a bit and glanced around, noticing the three of them.

Scratch that, the hair wasn't the most unusual feature on the boy. Coulson had never seen molten gold irises like this before.

The boy's expression hardened as he assessed the situation and stepped a half pace backward with his left leg, assuming a more balanced fighting stance, bringing up his hands in front of himself protectively, angling his right side toward them. Phil was surprised by this new development but could see that the kid was not a newbie when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

"Don't move and we won't harm you!" Phil ordered in a commanding but soothing tone hoping to avoid confrontation as they didn't know who or _what_ they were up against.

The boy's eyes first widened in surprise then he scowled further not relaxing his stance one bit. Daisy glanced at Coulson for permission then lowered her gun at the slight nod of her superior.

"We are not here to fight you," she tried to persuade the golden-haired teen in a friendly voice as she took a step closer. "We are from an agency called S.H.I.E.L.D."

* * *

Ed's first surprise – well besides that she had three guns pointed at her head – was that she could understand what they were saying. The speech sounded foreign and not Amestrian for _sure_ , but the words miraculously made sense to her. _At least damned Truth had the decency to give me the language of this world._ – she thought to herself as she quickly assessed her options. She still didn't know if alchemy would work, and these people did say they weren't going to hurt her, but she wasn't about to go trust the first people she encountered. Not without proof that they were trustworthy. And besides, even if alchemy did work, did she really want these people finding out about it?

The second surprise was when the brunette started to approach her in a calming manner. _Got guts, I see._ But then again, they knew nothing about her or her possible abilities, and she looked like a teenager to them. Plus the woman did have the other two for backup.

"Where am I?" Ed decided to try and talk it out first, maybe she could squeeze some much-needed information out of them.

"Manhattan," the lady answered without hesitation, still assuming a friendly demeanor but frowning when she saw the teen blink in confusion.

"And where exactly is that?" Ed tried again.

"New York City… The United States of America…" the unknown female agent continued with hesitation as she saw that no recognition dawned on their target. "Planet Earth…"

When the brunette saw that this wasn't going to go anywhere, she decided to take a different approach.

"My name is Daisy Johnson," she informed sweetly. "What's your name?"

"Ed," the alchemist answered in a clipped tone, still warily glancing between the agents. After all, there were still two guns on her.

"Hi, Ed. Do you have a last name?" Daisy probed further.

Ed thought for a moment about her answer but came to the conclusion that her name wouldn't matter in this world anyway, they wouldn't have any means to learn her true identity through that. Not unless, they knew about the Gate and her world on the other side, and by some sick twist of fate also about the Fullmetal Alchemist too, but she found that highly unlikely. If they did though, then they could give her information on how to get back.

"Elric," she answered finally.

Just then a loud, oscillating sound above her head startled her, making her act on instinct. She clapped her hands together, alchemically bringing up a curved wall of concrete in front of and above of herself – as she was expecting for something to fall on her – and made a run for it in the direction away from the strange men and woman. When Ed finally looked up to find the source of the perceived threat, she saw a weird teardrop shaped metal body with propellers on the top and tail of it fly away high above in the sky. It was too late already though, the agents had witnessed what she had done, and the man who had not spoken to her yet started to fire at her running form, once hitting her, only in the right arm, fortunately. She could also hear a distinct "Damn it." from the other man who seemed to be in charge as they sprinted after her.

"Ed, wait!" the one named Daisy called after her. Ed didn't intend to stop, but unfortunately, the earlier unusual heaviness in her limbs and the effort of the previous transmutation slowed her down considerably, making it possible for the girl to almost catch up to her.

"Daisy, don't go near him, he is dangerous!" the older man warned Daisy, and it barely registered somewhere back in Ed's mind that she was taken for a boy. Again.

 _Go, figure…_ – she thought to herself just as she noticed that the lady had stopped chasing her, taking a weird standing stance with legs wide apart and one arm extended in front herself, face scrunched up as if concentrating. Just then the ground shook under Ed's feet – and only under her feet – harmlessly making her stumble and fall due to the unexpected shift. The two male agents arrived by her side, quickly restraining her, making sure to keep her hands separated from each other. She tried to struggle out of their hold, but it was useless. She wondered whether the thing the girl did with the ground was alchemy, though she saw no transmutation circle nor the stance the agent had taken indicated it to Ed that it was alchemy. She made a mental note to herself to ask about it later.

"Ed, please, we are not trying to hurt you!" Daisy tried to calm the teen down after she jogged up to the three of them.

Ed huffed in disagreement but ceased her struggling which earned her the privilege of being released from the two men's hold when Daisy nodded them to.

"I think this guy over here didn't get your memo…" Ed grunted nodding her head to her left where the younger male was.

"Has he shot you somewhere?" Daisy asked with a bit of worry looking for signs of blood.

"My right arm, but it's fine, it's…" she started to explain, but the girl was already tugging down her coat from her right shoulder looking for the wound only to gasp when she saw her auto-mail.

"Like I said, it's fine," she said grudgingly as she yanked the red fabric back over her shoulder.

"We need to move out," the older man on her right warned before Daisy could question the teen further on it though. "I don't know how much longer we will be without company. We can continue this on the Bus," he looked down at the blonde with curiosity shining in his eyes.

Ed rolled her eyes at that but went with the agents without further resistance. It's not like she had the energy to do anything besides that anyway.

After they got into the big black bulgy looking car, the two men were finally introduced to her too.

"My name is Agent Phil Coulson," the older one said then pointed to the other. "And this is Agent Lance Hunter."

"What is this shield you were talking about earlier?" Ed asked. She needed to gather as much information as possible if she were to get around in this world.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. – Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," Coulson explained. "It's a government agency tasked with combined military, scientific research, and espionage activities regarding threats beyond the scope of standard national security agencies."

Ed just sighed in resignation. Yet again she had been found by some weird military, to be recruited she was sure. She also had a feeling that she wouldn't have much choice in the matter either.

They drove into a huge park in the middle of the city and stopped in an empty clearing. The others piled out of the car, so Ed followed their suit.

"And this is the Bus," Coulson announced which confused Ed for a second as she saw absolutely nothing there, but then suddenly the air started to shimmer in a weird way, and soon another piece of technologically advanced vehicle appeared in front of them.

"Come," Daisy gesture to her as Ed stayed rooted in her place, gawking at the thing while the others had already boarded. Ed picked up her pace to catch up to the lady agent, but her eyes never left the machinery.


	2. Interrogations and examinations

_**Chapter 2: Interrogations and examinations**_

* * *

After they got on the Bus, the wonders just kept on coming for Ed. The interior of what she learned to be an airplane was beyond anything she had seen before. All sorts of screens with moving pictures and different displays, buttons, none of whose functionality the alchemist could even take a guess at. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Winry – the gearhead – would be beyond herself if she could get her hands on the actual mechanics of this peculiar vehicle. As the memory of Winry came to her mind, her heart constricted with a pang of regret, so she shooed the thought away quickly.

Ed was even more astonished when she learned that this big piece of metal flew. Then she remembered that other thing, the one that had startled her during the fight – a helicopter as she had found out – flew too, so she just came to accept that in this world it was technologically possible to lift and keep large metal bodies in the air without alchemy. In more ways than one actually. Didn't make her less nervous about the take off though, but after a few minutes, she got accustomed to the smooth ride.

As they walked along the corridors of the Bus, Daisy had started to ask more and more in-depth questions. Ed sensed that it was either this or an actual interrogation, they were just giving her the benefit of the doubt and the courtesy of a chance to open up in a less formal setting before they resorted to other means if they found her untruthful.

"So where are you from Ed?" the brunette asked casually as they walked into what seemed like a kitchen area.

Ed sighed knowing full well that sooner or later they would find out anyway, and she hoped it would be easier to get information from them if she gave up some intel willingly as well. Equivalent exchange was equivalent exchange everywhere. Ed opted to give them the answers they wanted – well at least the ones she thought were harmless.

"Amestris," she supplied just as nonchalantly. She doubted that the name of her home country would mean anything to them anyway.

"Never heard of it," Daisy replied looking just as perplexed as Ed was when she told her about Manhattan.

"I actually don't think it's in this world," Ed mumbled as she took a sudden interest in the microwave.

"How did you get here?" the female agent questioned further. Alien worlds were not alien to her, so to speak.

"Through the Gate," Ed replied as she stared at the cord she was fumbling with her right hand. There was only a slim chance that they would know about the Gate even if they had alchemy on Earth. It wasn't well-known in Amestris either.

This was an answer though that Daisy wasn't prepared for. _Maybe he meant the Bifrost that the Asgardians used to travel between the nine realms?_ – she thought to herself.

"The gate?" she probed to confirm her theory.

"Truth's gate," again not an answer that Daisy expected.

"Truth?" she was reasonably sure that whatever this gate was, it had nothing to do with the Norse mythology and their gods.

"God, ultimate being, the universe. Call it whatever you like," Ed explained. "Big white nothingness with this creepy little white bastard that likes to toy with people's lives," the girl sighed again heavily. She really didn't want to get into it further, since Truth only toyed with the lives of people who committed the greatest taboo of alchemy – human transmutation – and she wasn't about to reveal that about herself. Even if alchemy didn't exist here, they surely wouldn't approve of unregulated human experimentation.

Sensing the uneasiness of the young teen, Daisy decided to try a different line of questioning.

"What was that you did earlier? When you clapped your hands together?" the agent asked with genuine curiosity, mimicking the gesture as clarification. She just assumed earlier that the young boy was an inhuman like herself, and this was his ability, but in light of this new information, she was beginning to suspect there was something else to it.

"If I answer, can I ask some questions too? You know equivalent exchange," Ed negotiated with her favorite personal philosophy.

"Sure, why not," Daisy smiled encouragingly.

"Alchemy."

The answer was so short and sudden that Daisy wasn't even sure what Ed was talking about.

"What?"

Daisy's question half answered one of the inquiries Ed had for the agent. She was now sure that whatever she did that made the earth move was not alchemy. Well, at least that she had never formally learned alchemy and thus didn't know the proper terms of this particular science.

"The thing I did… it was alchemy," she elaborated, furrowing her brows. "Is there no alchemy in this world?"

"Well, there was… sort of…" Daisy tried to explain unsurely. History wasn't really her forte. "In the Middle Ages, there were a bunch of dudes trying to turn lead into gold but weren't capable of anything like what you did. This line of 'science' quickly died out. Is alchemy common in Amestris?"

"You could say that, I guess. Not everybody can do it though, and most certainly not the way I do it," Ed frowned. _Only people who committed the taboo and saw Truth can do it with a clap of their hands._ – she thought to herself grimly, reminded of her mistake again. "But it's mainly used for military purposes where I come from," she supplemented absentmindedly.

"You were in the military? Why?" Daisy asked wide-eyed, assuming a connection between the seemingly innocent comments and the obvious talents Ed possessed. She was sure that the boy couldn't be older than sixteen! _Just what kind of military went and hired children even if they were a genius?_ "How old are you?"

"Can I ask my questions first?" Ed deflected, the waters they were beginning to thread became dangerous again in regards to her secret.

"Sure. Fire away," the agent relented, but she was sure that she had hit the nail on the head. If she were to get more information out of the boy she needed to be careful with her questions. Daisy sensed that there was something he wasn't willing to talk to about.

"What was that you did when you made the earth shake? For a second I thought it was earth alchemy, but I saw no transmutation circle on the ground or you, and you weren't using yourself as a circle with clapping your hands either," Ed explained with animated hand gestures that made Daisy chuckle a bit.

"It's genetic. I had a dormant alien gene that activated when I made contact with a certain chemical. We call ourselves inhumans. I can manipulate the frequency at which atoms resonate, but it's a different gift for each one of us."

"Just like that with sheer willpower?" Ed cocked a brow incredulously. What Daisy was capable of was undoubtedly possible with alchemy as well, but the apparent bypass of equivalent exchange frustrated her to the utmost degree. Until now, she had believed it to be a universal law.

"You could say that," the agent chuckled again.

"Are there many of you?" Ed could just imagine what these people with powers could do if left unchecked.

"Just a couple of handfuls that we know of. Part of our team's mission is to find gifted individuals and help them control their powers and make sure they use it for good," Daisy replied as if reading the boy's mind and concerns, but since they shared those fears it wasn't hard to make the jump to that conclusion. "At first I thought you were one of us, but I guess with you being from an entirely different dimension, it's out of the question. Although…" she said after a beat then paused again for a moment contemplating something. "This could still be a genetic thing in your case too. You did mention that not everyone in your world is capable of alchemy."

Ed was deep in thought. She never actually thought about alchemy in this way. Of course, scientists in Amestris were aware of genetics or more accurately hereditary traits, but no one ever connected the dots between genes and alchemy, not even in theory.

"Would you mind if we tested your genes?" Daisy broke their contemplative silence. In all truth, they would have done it anyway but this way she could maybe make Ed go along with it more easily.

"What does that entail exactly?" Ed inquired cautiously as the images of the traumatic experiences she had with doctors and their "tests" flooded her mind, making her cringe.

"We just need a little blood…" the brunette agent began to explain the process unaware of the reaction she was going to get from the teenager in front of her.

"No, nada, no freaking way!" the alchemist backed up two steps waving her hands in front of her in protest with a look of horror on her face. "There is no way in hell any of you are poking me with any sort of needle, whatsoever!"

"Or a swab of saliva or strand of hair…" Daisy quickly added as she watched the boy in amusement who visibly relaxed that there were other options besides pocking him like a pincushion. "Fear of needles?"

"You have no idea!" Ed shuddered at even thought of them. She had enough experience with prickly things for a lifetime during her auto-mail surgery.

"Come, I'm going to introduce you to our scientists on board," she waved friendlily to Ed to indicate to follow her.

* * *

Ed sat on a metal table with her feet dangling from the side, chatting up the two scientists – Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz as she was told – and looking around curiously in the abundantly well-equipped lab while they waited for the DNA results. She was growing increasingly immune to the excitement each new discovery held for her. _I mean you can only shock somebody so many times a day._ Nonetheless, her eagerness never subsided to learn as much as possible about the technological and scientific advancements of this world.

Daisy stood in one of the corners, leaning against the wall, arms folded in front of her, observing the three of them interact. A few things were quite apparent to her. First, Ed was obviously a scientist, or at least someone very familiar with chemistry and physics. Second, the blond boy was a prodigy no matter how you looked at it. Despite having never heard of most of the concepts and processes Fitz-Simmons were talking to him about, he caught on very quickly and started adding his own thoughts and ideas into the mix within a matter of minutes.

Just then another agent walked in and joined the brunette by the wall.

"So that little kid is the one you guys picked up?" Bobbi asked quietly, disbelief evident in her voice.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO LITTLE THEY CAN'T BE SEEN BEHIND THE DESK?" Ed ranted snapping her head towards them with a murderous glare in an instant.

"Wow, good hearing…" the blond agent commented with a smirk. "And sensitive I see."

Fortunately, the machines beeped just then indicating that the results were ready, preventing the confrontation to get further out of hand.

"Well as we thought she is definitely not inhuman," Jemma commented to Daisy as she quickly scanned over the screen where the results were displayed.

"Wait a minute… she?" the inhuman shook her head in confusion as she pushed herself away from the wall and walked up to Ed. "I thought you were a boy."

"You never asked, lady," Ed shrugged her shoulders. "But I have been pretending to be a boy for at least 5 years now, so it's not a surprise that you assumed that I was one." _Obviously, I do too good of a job at it…_

"Is Ed even your real name?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes, it is. It's short for Edeline. Although those who think I'm a boy know me as Edward," the blonde rolled her eyes at having to explain herself. _Frankly, it was none of their business._

"Why would you do that?" Daisy asked in a less accusing tone.

"Women were not allowed to be State Alchemists," Ed stated as a matter of fact.

"You are a State Alchemist? So you _were_ in the military in Amestris after all. You can't be older than sixteen. And you say you have been pretending for five years…" she gasped as she did the mental math, exasperatedly running her right hand through her hair. Her heart was full of pity and sadness for the girl in front of her. She could only imagine the horrors the blonde had witnessed.

Little did Daisy know about the full extent of the terrible things Ed saw and _did_ …

"I joined the military when I was twelve, I was visited by a military officer when I was eleven who just assumed I was a boy, so I went with it."

"What kind of military is that recruits _children_ for their causes?" she spewed with disgust. Her mind was reeling with images of boy soldiers in Africa.

"Look, I signed up of my own accord. It was my decision. I was never forced," Ed defended. She could never blame Mustang for this, however much she thought he was a bastard most of the time, he was the only sort of father figure that she knew in her life.

"You are just a child, it shouldn't have been your decision to make. Where were your parents?" Daisy blurted out, almost instantly regretting it as she saw the profound sadness that overtook the features of the teen sitting in front of her as she averted her eyes. "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I grew up as an orphan too, so I know that look," she apologized quickly. Clearly, this was a very sensitive topic for Ed. "Why did you join?" the agent asked finally with a feeling that the answer would be the root cause the girl had been avoiding to answer all along. Ed subconsciously rubbed her right shoulder where the metal met the flesh.

"Let's just say to correct a mistake. The military had resources that I needed to make good on a promise I had made," Ed smiled fondly remembering her little brother. _At least Al got his body back…_

"Does your shoulder hurt?" Simmons butted in, dispersing the heavy atmosphere of the serious conversation.

"Mmhh… it's fine, it usually does that if it's raining," Ed said moving her shoulder around a bit.

"But it's not raining…" Daisy said looking out the plane window.

"Well, not here since we are above the clouds, but it looks like there is a storm below us," Bobbi supplemented as she walked over there to look out too.

"Let me have a look at it, okay?" Jemma offered but didn't really wait for a reply and started to take the red coat off of Ed, only to gasp when she saw the steel shoulder.

"Geez, what it is with you people constantly undressing me…" Ed mumbled grudgingly, throwing angry daggers with her eyes toward Daisy but proceeded to take the coat off further revealing her entire arm.

They had been not prepared for what they were seeing. Ed's arm was anatomically perfect, muscles and everything, just made of steel, with different plates covering it in the critical places for added protection, connected to her flesh with what seemed like a port of some sort. They were even more astonished when the blond girl flexed her arm and fingers to show off the precision she could achieve in the movement of her artificial limb.

"Cool, huh?" she smirked with pride. _That's Winry for you guys, her designs confounding scientists in a world where technology was far more advanced than in Amestris._ "I take it there are no auto-mails in this world."

"Auto-mail?" Fitz questioned, technology and gadgets were his areas of expertise, but he never heard of such thing.

"Yes, that's what this is called," Ed said pointing to her arm.

"Well, we do have all sorts of prosthetic limbs, but none of those can grant you this much control on movement," Jemma answered. "Is this connected directly to your nerve endings?" she exclaimed as she examined the shoulder further, noting the massive scarring around the metal parts.

"Yes," Ed replied curtly and shuddered as she remembered the feeling when the nerves connect.

"That must have been painful, also the surgery…" the female scientist trailed off. _And at such a young age!_ "Where does it hurt?" she quickly changed back to their original topic before her mind could wander off even further into the horrors this must have entailed.

"Just my shoulder around the port, but like I said it's probably just the rain," she winced at the cool touch of the other girl's hand on her scars. "Although, ever since I arrived here, there has been this heavy feeling in my limbs."

"It could be that our worlds are not completely identical in terms of gravitational force and the make-up of the atmosphere," Fitz theorized.

"It can't be that different given the similarity of our biological makeup, though," Jemma mused as she turned back to the DNA report to analyze it further.

"But your arm does look really heavy, what is it made of?" Fitz asked. He was intrigued by the technology behind it. _Combining engineering with medical sciences so efficiently… bio-engineering was far from this advanced on Earth._

"Mostly steel, carbon-fiber and some other alloys here and there," Ed explained as she turned to look at her arm. _It did feel heavier than at home though_ …

"Wow, given your height it must put a considerable strain on your muscles to lift all this weight!" Fitz commented, already forgetting Bobbi's earlier mistake.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT THEY CAN'T CARRY THEIR OWN LIMBS?" Ed fumed at an ear-piercing volume, but the male scientist just ignored her outburst.

"Maybe we should look into it if we can make something lighter for her. I'm sure Fury wouldn't mind contacting Stark. If anyone I'm sure he can figure out how this port works," Leo suggested to Daisy. He wasn't confident in tinkering with something connected to a living being even if it _was_ a piece of machinery.

"That's a good idea," Jemma commented absentmindedly still immersed in reading the genetic information they got on their new guest.

"Don't ignore me! I can take any of you on even if my body is heavier on this planet!" the tiny alchemist sulked further, but her comment made Daisy's eyes glint with evil mirth.

"Hmmm… Let's see what May has to say about that…" she commented. Ed had no idea who this May person could be, but she assumed they were powerful if the gifted agent thought she should fight her.

"You know…" Jemma mused looking up at them. "Based on these findings…" she paused. "Your genetic makeup is basically the same as of a human from Earth from the late 1800s, early 1900s. Although, some genes would more likely suggest a Middle-Eastern descent from 400-500 hundred years ago."

"Are you telling that she has not only crossed dimensions but time traveled as well?" Daisy interjected trying to make sense of this new information.

"Not necessarily," Fitz pondered looking in front of himself. "Time might very well flow at a different pace in her dimension. Or if you think of dimensions as pieces of papers, it could be that our worlds are just not perfectly aligned and at a different point on the timeline," he looked up at them. "That is if we want to assume that our worlds are connected in some way."

Everyone fell into silence. That is until Jemma got her wits together.

"I'll go get a heating pad for your shoulder, it should help with the pain for now," she offered already turning on her heels to fetch the said object.

"It's not that bad, you don't need to bother…" Ed called after her, but the sliding door was already closing behind her.

"You are not really used to people taking care of you, are you?" Bobbi mused. Ed just shrugged with a heavy sigh. The only person who had looked after her somewhat was her brother, and she would mostly refuse the attention from him too.

* * *

Later that evening Ed lied on the bed they had issued her, unable to sleep, her mind going a hundred miles an hour trying to make sense of all the new things she had experienced that day. She reached her right arm in front of herself, cursing Truth for the mess it got her into. _Why couldn't it have just accepted my deal?_

Al finally had his body back at least. But she was not there to celebrate it with him. And everyone must have been wondering where she had disappeared to. _Winry…_ She hoped that Al at least remembered what happened at the Gate and was able to explain it to everyone. Not knowing would have been a hundred times worse… She missed home.

Clenching her fist with determination, she vowed that she _would_ find a way to get back.


	3. The Fast and the Furious

**_Chapter 3: The Fast and the Furious_**

* * *

Early next morning, Ed decided to find a place where she could work out and get her muscles trained for the heavier load they'd got to carry now. The previous night they had pretty much come to the conclusion that Earth's mass and gravitational force was probably slightly higher than her planet's and that's what caused the fatigue she was experiencing.

She was dressed in the standard issue sweatpants S.H.I.E.L.D. provided her with and her regular black sleeveless shirt, ditching the chest bands given that her gender was of no consequence in this place. Daisy was kind enough to lend her a sports bra as they seemed to be similar in size – not that she had too much "stuff" to hold up. She wandered the halls until she stumbled upon a room with all sorts of equipment that seemed to be for exercising, and a punching bag filled with sand that hung from the ceiling.

She started to punch the bag, first slowly to get used to the way it moved when she hit it, then more complicated moves, round kicks, wide punches making sure not to hit too hard with her right arm and left leg. She really didn't want to destroy the thing. _This work out was certainly less entertaining and fulfilling than sparring with my brother, but for now, it would have to do._

She had been down there for at least half an hour when she sensed someone staring at her, so she stopped and turned around to see who it was, but the person standing by the door was someone she hadn't met before.

"Don't you want to wrap your hand if you are going to hit the bag so hard?" a black haired woman, who reminded Ed of the people from Xing, asked.

"Nah, I'm used to a _literally_ much harder sparring partner. My hand can take the abuse," Ed smiled lopsidedly. Yes, Al's armor was definitely tougher than this leather bag. He had also put up a much better fight.

"I see," she acknowledged curtly. "I'm Agent May by the way."

"Oh, so you are the one Daisy suggested I should challenge," her face lit up with recognition and a glint of smug confidence.

"Apparently my reputation precedes me," Melinda remarked coolly. Her totally unfazed demeanor was unnerving for Ed though. "I'll spar with you. No weapons, no alchemy either," she stated the rules for their fight. Ed laughed out loud.

"Apparently my reputation precedes me as well," Ed mimicked the female agent's words back to her. They took their fighting stances, May indicating for Ed to come at her.

Ed started off with a quick left-hand punch that May deflected easily with her right arm, side-stepping and throwing Ed over her shoulder. What she didn't account for was that Ed, instead of falling on her back, twisted herself mid-air, landing on her right hand, pushing herself instantly back up with a jump, facing May again.

"Not bad," May commented with a hint of surprise.

"My teacher had always loved to throw me over, so that doesn't really work against me," Ed smirked. She could tell as much that Izumi was better than May in terms of fighting skills, even if only by a little, but she believed she actually had a fair chance against her. Well, would have if she wasn't slowed down by the extra weight.

It was May's turn to initiate which she did with her favorite kick-punch combo, but Ed dodged easily. Seeing that their more casual attacks wouldn't land on either party both of them decided to get more serious.

The fight went on for a good ten minutes being fairly balanced between the two, with Ed being the more agile attacker, performing her usual acrobatic jumps, kicks, jump-kicks, and turns, while May was a more grounded fighter who preferred to use her opponent's momentum to gain advantage. That is until Ed reacted only a fraction of a second too late and May was able to sweep her legs from under her with a well-placed low-spinning kick.

"You are actually quite good," May praised as she held out her hand to help up the young alchemist which unbeknownst to Ed was a rare occurrence.

"Well, you do actually have me at a disadvantage here," Ed grimaced as she took the offered hand and got off her butt rubbing it.

2Your left leg is auto-mail as well right?" the agent inquired which hadn't surprised Ed that much. Her teacher was able to tell the difference while sparring too.

"Yeah, I tried to go easy with it on you, but it might have left bruise here and there," the blonde apologized with a nervous chuckle.

"You really should consider somehow reducing the weight of those," May suggested based on the analysis of their encounter. "I'm not sure I could have beat you in your homeland."

"Thanks… I guess…" she mumbled as she gathered her things heading for the shower. _Winry would beat me to a pulp with her wrench if I let anyone else mess with her "precious" auto-mail. But first I would have to get home for that and to accomplish such feat I might really need the upgrade after all._ "Is there a library or something where I can read up on the history, geography, technology of this world?" Ed asked as an afterthought as she turned back from the entrance to the showers.

"Well the ship doesn't really have any books, but you should be able to find anything you would want on the internet," May suggested coolly.

"Inter… what?" Ed blinked in confusion.

"Uhm…" May paused realizing Ed wouldn't know about internet, computers and such. "Ask Daisy, she is sort of an expert on things like this."

* * *

"How long has she been in front of that thing?" Bobbi asked conspiratorially from Daisy as they both peered over the door frame, observing Edeline sitting in front of a computer for at least the sixth hour straight, reading whatever she could find after Daisy showed her how to use it. "Has she even gotten up to eat?"

Almost as if on cue, Ed's stomach grumbled loudly, and she stretched as she got up from her chair. The two snooping agents quickly ducked behind the doorframe to avoid being caught.

"I know you are there, you know!" Ed called to them, laughing at their nosiness. The girls stepped into view since they were found out.

"Seriously, how can you read for so long?" Bobbi inquired in astonishment, crossing her arms as the petite blonde walked up to them.

"Just habit, I guess," Ed shrugged. "Although books are still much more preferable, despite the fact that it's much easier to find things on this internet thing than in libraries. The glowing screen kind of makes my eyes hurt."

"Were you able to find anything useful?" Daisy asked with genuine interest.

"Well, I read basically everything on this world's general history without going into specifics of individual countries. Checked up on the theories and concepts of physics and chemistry in this world, those were much the same as ours. Tried to look into alchemy too, but everything I found was very basic, rudimentary stuff that kind of made me feel like you were stuck 600 years in the past. At least in this regard. In terms of industrialization, engineering and other technology like this informatics stuff you are way-way ahead of us. Pretty interesting, I'm not that much into engineering, but I understood most of it. My mechanic at home though, she would have a field day with all this," Ed listed in almost one breath.

"You read about all of that in just 6 hours?" Daisy was puzzled at how someone could hold that much information in their head after such a short amount of time.

"Yeah… Why, what's the problem?" Ed furrowed her brows seeing the agent's bewildered expression.

"Never mind," she said dropping the subject. "Come, you must be starving," she added grabbing Ed by the hand and practically dragging her away to the kitchen.

* * *

As Ed stuffed her face with food, Daisy watched her in amazement. _How can a small girl like her devour so much food?_ But she wouldn't dare to voice her thoughts, having learned how volatile the young alchemist could get when her height was mentioned.

With a whoosh sound, the sliding door opened and Coulson stepped in.

"Sorry to interrupt," he greeted with a kind smile. "Fury wants to meet with you," the team leader addressed Ed.

"Who the hell is that?" Ed grunted with a full mouth, not bothering to swallow the bite to answer.

"The director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Phil answered calmly.

"When?" Ed munched on further, unimpressed by the title of the man seeking to meet her.

"Just about now," the male agent informed as the plane touched down on the helicarrier. Ed finally swallowed her bite with a grunt and followed after Coulson as he led the way.

* * *

The whole place seemed like a floating island to Ed on the outside. The inside was more like a maze, but fortunately, Ed prided herself with her sense of direction and wasn't too worried about getting lost. Not that she believed they would let her wander off alone.

They came into a sizeable open-space area which seemed to be the command center for the aircraft. Standing in the middle of the bridge with his back to her was a tall black man dressed in all black, particularly his long leather coat. When he turned around to greet the party that had just arrived Ed stiffened instantly, crossing her arms.

"I'm Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," the man introduced himself to her. "You are Edeline Elric if I'm correct."

"That would be me," Ed huffed, her face set in an almost permanent scowl.

"Is something wrong?" Fury questioned her on her openly hostile behavior.

"Let's just say I don't really trust people with eyepatches," Ed commented grudgingly. The last person with an eyepatch she sort of trusted turned out to be a homunculus, not that she worried that the director was one, but it still made her uneasy. The director just laughed at that and lifted the patch to reveal heavy scarring around his left eye and a whitened iris.

"Better?" the master spy asked, to which Ed only replied with a slight, unsure nod. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, why don't you come with me for a walk?"

Ed looked up to Coulson, who just nodded her on to go and that there was nothing to worry about.

"So…" Fury began when they were alone in of the back hallways. "Edeline."

"Just call me Ed," the blond alchemist interrupted.

"Ed," the black man corrected. "I was informed that in your world you were in the military."

"Yes, from the age of twelve right up until I wound up in this world," Ed replied looking straight ahead. She had a feeling where this talk was leading to.

"What kind of duties did you have?"

Just as Ed thought this was eerily starting to feel like a job interview.

"Just generally being the dog of the military," Ed laughed, then when she saw that Fury wasn't amused, amended her answer. "Covert ops, apprehending criminals, alchemical research, you name it. Anything where my set of skills could be utilized, even as a human weapon."

"Would they be coming after you to get you? I mean, you awfully sound like a precious asset," Fury commented with concern.

"They better not! It would be a pretty dumb thing if they tried," Ed snorted.

"Why is that?" Fury questioned. He was briefed on this Gate, as Ed called it, but they still haven't figured out what the thing exactly was.

"There is a toll to pay to get to or through the Gate. And the price is usually so high, I'd rather none of them paid it," _especially not Al._ – Ed added to herself as an afterthought.

"What did you have to pay to get here?" the spy probed further.

"Coming here was my price, not the reward," Ed clarified.

"I see. Mind if I ask what you were negotiating?" Fury inquired trying to gauge the alchemist's character.

"I would rather you didn't."

Telling the man that she was getting her brother's body back from the Gate just wouldn't cut it. He would then want to know why his body was there in the first place, and even if human transmutation was unheard of here, she read that on the internet that experiments on humans were mostly taboo on Earth too.

"Alright," Fury contemplated for a second. Given the pang of regret he saw flash across the girl's face, he was sure that whatever the reason was, it was serious, but that she had a strong enough sense of morals that she wouldn't be making the same mistake again. They would still be keeping an eye on her just to make sure. "Would you be willing to work for us?"

Ed had an odd sense of déjà vu. _Wasn't this the same thing I negotiated with Mustang?_ – Ed sighed heavily.

"What kind of job do you exactly have in mind?" she really didn't want to be anybody's errand boy – well, girl now – again.

"We have a program called the Avengers Initiative. A team composed of powerful beings that would respond to any dangerous global threat which are too great to be dealt with on Earth. I think given your alchemy and military background, you would fit in very well with them," Fury explained proudly. The Avengers were sort of his pet project.

Ed stopped in her tracks and burst out laughing to the point of actually having to hold her stomach while at it. "Seriously? Avengers?" she snickered further. "Who came up with _that_ name?" Fury watched her stoically, not dignifying her hysterics with an answer.

"On one condition," Ed managed, holding up a finger after she got her laughing under control and faced Fury head-on with determination filled gold eyes.

"What would that be?" Over his long carrier, he had never seen eyes shining with fire like this. He was sure whatever the girl would ask for, she would accomplish it with or without their help, but if he wanted her on their side, he would probably have to cooperate.

"In my free time you'll give me unlimited access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources to find a way back to Amestris," Ed stipulated her demand.

"Deal." There really wasn't an easier way to keep tabs on her activities than if she was doing them in S.H.I.E.L.D. "Now that that's been settled let's talk about your prosthetic limbs," Fury continued in a serious tone. From what he was told the Winter Soldier's left arm was very similar to it, but they didn't have access to him or the H.Y.D.R.A. scientists who had manufactured it, nor their research notes.

"Auto-mail," Ed huffed.

"Right. I was told that due to our slightly elevated gravitational force you are experiencing some difficulties," Fury went on as he started to walk again along the corridor.

"It's not a big deal, I will just have to train that much harder," Ed rolled her eyes picking up the pace to catch up to the taller man. She already was getting tired of these people constantly telling her what to do.

"I respect your wishes. But I would still like to introduce you to an engineer who might be able to figure out the mechanics behind your arm and leg…" he was confident that if anyone could do it, it was Stark, maybe with the help of someone well-versed in the medical profession.

"But…" Ed tried to reason, given that she was still afraid of Winry's wrath.

"You are not obligated to use whatever he designs. If you don't like it, then leave it. But I believe it's worth a shot," he was starting to get the feeling that dealing with this kid would be almost as tricky as with the man he was about to introduce her to. He was beginning to get a headache from just the thought of it, especially since he was about to let them loose on each other.

"Fine. Whatever."

Little did she know that the man she was about to meet would be the most annoying of them all.


	4. Steel meets Titanium-gold

_**Chapter 4: Steel meets Titanium-gold**_

* * *

After getting her stuff – those measly two pieces of clothing that she owned besides the ones she was wearing and her pocket-watch – and saying her goodbyes to Coulson's team, she was escorted by the director himself to meet Tony Stark. So it was back to New York as she was told, to the once Stark – _seriously, egotistical much?_ – now Avengers tower, which was sort of like a hub for the team. Although according to Fury usually none of the "superheroes" would be there besides Stark, they generally only came together when there was some sort of emergency.

Once they were flying over Manhattan, Ed's face was plastered to the window as she watched the skyscrapers that seemed to defy all laws of physics. Ed did note though that these were made of steel and glass instead of bricks as the smaller buildings that dotted the skyline.

Their destination was a similarly tall building, if not even more interesting with its peculiar design that narrowed at the top that had a curved platform of some sort sticking out Truth knows how many stories high. That was precisely where their jet landed just a few minutes later.

As they stepped into the spacey apartment, it was evident to Ed even if she wasn't familiar with the modern designs of the era that this place was owned by someone wealthy. Like super-rich wealthy. It seemed like no one was at home and she wondered why they would leave the door unlocked even if it opened on to a helipad on the 90th floor. But maybe owning helicopters and jets wasn't that common, so uninvited guests entering through was not to be expected either. She wouldn't know. _Would potential thieves have the means of acquiring a helicopter?_ – she wondered.

"Welcome to the Avengers Tower, Mr. Fury, and Miss?" a disembodied female voice spoke all around them in a sort of quirky but polite way, making Ed jump as she was startled.

"Geez! Warn me next time, you are going to give me a heart attack," she panted clutching her chest for dramatic effect.

"Should I call for medical assistance, ma'am?" the robotic voice mused with a hint of humor, knowing full-well from scans that there wasn't anything wrong with the blonde's heart.

"Don't ma'am me, I'm only 16, dammit. You can call me, Ed," the alchemist grumbled. The voice was giving her the creeps, and all she could think about were the affixed souls of her brother and the prisoners from Laboratory 5 as she couldn't pinpoint any sort of speaker where the voice could be coming from. _Maybe a soul was bound to something in the room?_ Either case, she started to suspect why burglary would not be among the top five worries of Tony Stark.

"What a peculiar name for a girl," the artificially generated sound commented.

"Short for Edeline," she amended quickly.

"Miss Ed, it is then" the voice insisted.

"Just Ed," she sighed, getting really tired of this conversation. She wasn't really sure if it was a person she was talking too, but couldn't imagine any other explanation for it.

"Mr. Stark is out at the moment, he will be back shortly. Please feel free to wait for him in the living room," they were informed then the sound turned silent.

"What the hell was that?" Ed turned with outrage to Fury for an explanation, which she very much hoped didn't involve finding out that this world secretly had alchemy too and someone experimented with the same shit as the military back home.

"I'm still here, Miss Ed," the voice came back on, making Ed start for a second time, causing Fury to almost crack a smile. _Almost._ "I am F.R.I.D.A.Y., an artificial intelligence system designed by Mr. Stark."

"You are not or weren't a living person then?" the blond alchemist inquired just to clarify.

"No, Miss Ed, I am a computer program."

This analogy Ed could understand, although it amazed her that the machine she used to look up stuff on the internet and this talking, responsive, _sentient_ voice were essentially the same things.

Just then a red-gold flying armor landed on the platform outside and walked casually in while all sorts of machinery started to automatically peel off the suit of armor from the man inside it piece by piece, never making him stop for a second.

"Mr. Stark, you have guests," F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed the man, simultaneously letting Ed know who the stranger was.

"No shit, Sherlock! The jet outside wasn't a dead giveaway," Stark bantered with the AI sarcastically as he went over to the bar, completely ignoring them, and poured himself a drink of some sorts. "You know, Fury, you ought to call next time before you just drop in on me, will ya?" he commented with feigned casualness as he sipped his drink.

Glancing over to them, he just now noticed the blond girl standing at the director's side with a fierce disapproving look in her eyes. The otherworldly intelligent golden orbs caught his attention at once, making him instantly curious about her identity.

"Well hello, there, cutie pie. Who might you be?" Tony cocked a brow checking her out.

"Tsk," Ed huffed in disgust. _Womanizing bastards everywhere!_ "I'm Ed. And sixteen for your information, you pedophilic moron."

The man had to be at least twenty years older than her, and even the idea of him made her skin crawl. Not that she found men, in general, all that appealing.

"Feisty, I see. I like that," Tony smirked playfully. He had no interest in her in that sort of way, but seeing her reaction, he decided it might be a fun past time to get on the nerves of the petite girl. "Is S.H.I.E.L.D. getting desperate that you are recruiting children now to spy for you or you just needed a midget to climb into a ventilation shaft Romanoff couldn't fit into?" Stark mocked aiming his comment at Fury.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A FUCKING VENT CRAWLING SHRIMP?" Ed fumed but wouldn't dare to admit to the flashbacks she was having of the exact same situation as described back at Lab 5.

"Ed, meet Tony Stark or Iron Man if you please," Fury decided to step in before the antagonism got out of hand since he was about to leave Ed here and he wasn't quite sure who would come out on top as a winner if a fight ensued.

"Pretty lame name considering that that suit of armor is not made of iron. As far I can tell it's some sort of titanium-gold alloy," Ed snorted at the goateed man, crossing her arms, and a smug look overtaking her features when she saw the astonishment on Stark's face.

"Exactly my point," Iron Man exclaimed throwing up his hands in the air in chagrin. "But the name just kind of stuck," he shrugged. "How did you know about the alloy I use?" he asked glancing at Fury to see if he divulged the information beforehand, but he just shook his head indicating he wasn't the culprit.

"Knowing the chemical and structural makeup of things _is_ my job, and metals are sort of my specialty," Ed explained, offended by the assumption that the only way she would know such a thing would be if someone tipped her off.

"What exactly would that job be? What are you, a scientist working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he asked offhandedly, gesticulating with his hand while taking another sip of his scotch. His attitude was getting on Ed's nerves more and more by the second.

"You could say that, but alchemist would be a more accurate description," Ed announced smugly.

Tony nearly choked on his drink, spluttering it out to the side.

"Alchemy? This is a joke, right?" he looked pleadingly at the director.

"Actually, no. Edeline Elric here is the newest addition to the Avengers team. She comes from a world where instead of technology, alchemy had developed immensely, which she is quite skilled at," Fury explained placing a hand on the young alchemist's shoulder.

"You mean this little red runt?" he questioned in pure disbelief pointing at the crimson-coated girl.

Even if he were to accept that alchemy existed, believing that a kid like her would be a master of it was preposterous. Being busy with his shock, Stark almost missed the moment when Ed clapped her hands together, then mid cart-wheel, surrounded by blue sparks pulled a sophisticated spear out of the floor with one hand while pushing herself into a high-jump with the other, landing on top of the bar. In the next second, she was already thrusting the spear point-blank right under Tony's unarmored chin before he could even blink or command F.R.I.D.A.Y. to suit him up in one of the mobile Iron Man suits.

"I dare you to call me little again," Ed glared threateningly, her voice eerily calm compared to her earlier outburst.

Seeing Stark's utterly stunned expression, she decided to pull back before he might shit his pants or something. She turned around jumping off the tabletop with ease and plopping down on the couch, not caring if it was offered to her or not.

"She and Natasha would surely hit it off with the ninja skills," the dark-haired man tried to joke nervously as he gulped back the fear that was just catching up with him.

"As I was saying, Ed will be joining the team, so try and play nice," Fury admonished with mirth in his voice, but inwardly all he could think was _Oh boy..._ "On the other hand, there is a situation in which we would like to call on your engineering skills."

The genius inventor's interest was piqued by that, causing him to forget the previous encounter entirely.

"Nice to know that you want me for my brains too, not just my looks," the playboy wiggled his brows suggestively, making Ed roll her eyes and grumble _Bastard…_ under her breath.

"So what is it? What kind of new toy should I invent for you?" he looked back and forth between his guests looking for clues on who the client would be for his services.

"Ed has two artificial limbs, auto-mail as they call them, which were designed in her homeworld... Unfortunately, as it turns out Earth's gravity is weighing down on them more than back there, slowing her down a notch. But since returning there is not an option at the moment, _we_ …" the director stressed the pronoun when noticing Ed's reluctant expression. "Would like you to take a look at it and see if you can figure out the workings of it and lighten its weight since it's not anything that has been possible by Earth's medical advances so far."

"Why the hell would she need to be any faster?" Tony shook his head, but curiosity won out in the end. "Lemme see," he walked out from behind the bar eagerly, just then noticing the little crater Ed had created when transmuting her spear. "What did you do to my floor?" he cried out in horror. Ed smirked that she was able to break the man's composure again but clapped and bent down to transmute the spear's material back into the floor anyway. It was good as new.

Tony paused for a second as he witnessed alchemy yet again but shook it off and turned back to the task at hand. Ed took off her red coat to reveal her right arm – and just like everyone else before – the engineer gasped too when first seeing the metal limb, but Stark overcame the startle much quicker, his inner mechanic spinning a hundred miles an hour already. He grabbed the arm and started to look over it inch by inch, noting the well-planned design, the anatomically correct proportions, and functionality.

"Quit yanking so hard, you jerk! It's connected to my nerve endings!" Ed protested to the manhandling. _Geez, this guy is like Winry, and the Colonel meshed together along their worst possible qualities into a big ball of frustrating piece of shit._ – Ed thought to herself.

"Are you serious?" Stark turned to the port now but went about his ministration in a more gentle fashion.

"I take it I can leave you to this?" Fury asked after a minute or two, obviously in a hurry to be somewhere else. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. knows how to reach me if something comes up," he informed and left without a goodbye.

* * *

They – or more accurately, Tony – decided to move the examinations of the mechanics to his lab where he could take scans of it to try and figure out what and how connected in the arm to replicate the bones, muscles and all so anatomically perfectly. While at it Ed also showed him her left leg by pulling up the leg of her pants above her knee.

"So how does your little voodoo magic thingy work?" Tony chatted up the young alchemist who sat on his table while he was looking over the scans in 3D on his holographic display pushing parts apart and examining them.

"Don't call me little!" Ed burst out clenching her fist. "And it's not magic, it's science," she huffed.

"Yeah, pseudoscience," Tony snorted. He loved getting the shorty riled up.

"Maybe in your world!" Ed cried out in frustration. "Alchemy is the comprehension, deconstruction, and reconstruction of materials. To do this, I need to understand the inherent structure and properties of the atomic or molecular makeup of a particular material to be transmuted. Physical, chemical properties, the flow and balance of potential and kinetic energy within. It takes a lot of studying to know all this. Also comprehending the different arrays that could be utilized for different materials and purposes, and using natural energy to manipulate, alter said materials! Also, I cannot create something from nothing! The laws of equivalent exchange apply. In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed," Ed ranted furiously not even really stopping to take a breath.

"So you are a wizard, I get it! There is no shame in it! I know this Wanda girl, the Scarlet Witch, she can do amazing things with her hands too!" he laughed at his own pun.

"Ahh! You are impossible!" Ed exclaimed in frustration throwing up her hands in the air.

"You know all that you told me reminds me of this girl I used to have a little fun with a few years back. She was really into this anime, manga stuff and would never _shut up_ about it. I think it was called Fullmetal Alchemist or something. But I kept her around despite her ramblings because she had freakish moves in bed," he said grinning as he recalled the experience. Ed froze in her place.

"What did you just say?" she asked in a dry tone.

"That she had freakish moves in bed, but don't worry you are still too young to know about this stuff," he waved her off.

"No, before that," Ed's voice became chilly as her patience was wearing thin.

"She was into this anime called Fullmetal Alchemist," Tony said glancing over from the holo-scans to Ed, noticing her icy demeanor.

"What is exactly an anime?" she asked further in a measured voice.

"Fictional stories that are made with drawn animation. Why? Did I say something?" he questioned obviously surprised by the girl's reaction.

"Fullmetal Alchemist is my state title from back home," she stated as her mind was reeling with the implications. "You said these anime were fictional stories. Who wrote this one?" the blond girl asked as she jumped off the table and started pacing, unable to contain her nervous energy.

"I don't know, but we can look it up on the internet," he offered indifferently.

"Yes, do that. While you are at it, find me a copy I can read," Ed ordered not even glancing his way, making Tony huff but he did it anyway.

"It's a lady named Hiromu Arakawa," Stark said a few seconds later. "You can't read anime though, only manga."

"Fine, whatever," Ed shooed him off as she kept pacing. _If someone had knowledge of the happenings beyond the Gate that would mean that it was possible to open it from this side too, despite the lack of alchemy. But at what cost?_

A couple minutes later she was handed a tablet with the manga on it, and she jumped into reading it instantly, while Tony just stood there dumbfounded for a second then turned back to his schematics, muttering _Kids these days..._ under his breath.

* * *

A few hours went by, and Ed was still immersed in the manga that depicted her life. A few things were becoming clear to her though. One, the author knew stuff about them that obviously wouldn't have been possible if she were to visit Amestris and witness the events that happened firsthand since many of the scenes took place in close quarters, with only Al or no one else there with her and still gave a reasonably accurate account. So the theory that Arakawa was an alchemist passing back and forth through the Gate was out.

Secondly, that Hiromu did not know _everything_. Or just altered things for creative purposes, that Ed didn't know. Her gender swap was seemingly never mentioned, she was a boy throughout the comic, even when she and Al were alone when in reality, her brother always called her sister in privacy since he hated the pretenses they were putting up for the world. As she reached the end of the story, she found that the creator believed that her deal with Truth went according to plan. Ed stopped reading at this point. She didn't want to know what could have been if that bastard Truth didn't screw her over.

The third thing she noticed but couldn't explain was that the manga was written between the years 2001-2010 of Earth's calendar, and it was 2015 now. Five years have already passed while the last events of the manga took place for her mere days ago. _Maybe I had time traveled after all..._ She needed to find out how this person was able to know so much about her world!

Looking up, Ed noticed that the engineer was busy welding something.

"Hey," she called out to him to gain his attention as she walked over to him.

"Hey back to you," he said as he lifted the welding goggles off his face. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she replied unsurely. "I need to find and speak with this Arakawa person."

"I'm not sure that would be that easy. She does live literally on the other side of the planet in Japan," he said, not bothering to mention that actually traveling there wouldn't be that hard, and he had the financial means to pull basically anything off. "But seeing how distressed you were, I took it upon myself to try and find out how she came up with the story."

"Why are you so nice all of a sudden?" Ed squinted her eyes at him suspiciously.

"Uhm… I just thought it must be tough to find out that you are just the figment of someone's imagination to most people on this planet."

"I AM NOT… just a figment," Ed yelled in outrage but calmed down quickly. "I just need to find out how she came to this knowledge. This could also be the key to getting home."

"In an interview, she said that it came to her in a dream. But most creative people say that," Tony offered.

"So I was right that she didn't actively cross the Gate," Ed pondered out loud, then she realized something. "It is possible that the people on Earth use their Gate to Truth to tap into images of other worlds like alchemists tap into it to draw the energy for the transmutations, and you just construe it as imagination or creativity."

"That's pretty harsh, you wound me," the inventor put his hand on his chest in mock offense. "Are you trying to say that anything I invent is not my own idea, I just 'tap' into God?"

"You could say that. Although Truth is anything but the image you have of god, trust me. It is a sly little bastard, that's what it is," she spewed angrily. "But the ability to draw these images is yours inherently, don't worry. Just like not everyone is able to do alchemy either," she added trying to appease the man who seemed to be taken aback by the idea.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, okay I know you guys must think** **that it was kind of a dick move to put Ed through that she is just a fictional character in some manga, and that creativity was not something inherent to people but "God's gift" (or Truth). I am not a religious person by the way, and I don't believe this as a personal philosophy, but for the purposes of this story, it felt like a good idea to say that the different worlds tapped into the Gate in different ways. In Ed's world alchemy being possible by using the energy from there and in ours gaining imagination and creativity that allowed for the many pieces of art and technological advancements, inventions our world has to offer. This is also still compatible with the whole parallel world/multi-dimension theory.**

 **I'm obviously making this stuff up so don't stress about it too much :D**


	5. Heroes and a Widow

**_Chapter 5: Heroes and a Widow_**

* * *

However you looked at it, Ed had a rough and _long_ day behind her, but at 4 AM her mind still wouldn't let her relax and sleep as she lay in bed in one of the many guestrooms the tower had to offer. She had learned that the story of her life became a quite popular manga with not one but two anime adaptations, adorned by fans all over the world. She was used to being somewhat famous as the Hero of the People back home, but this was entirely different. The thought that people used her life, her suffering as a source of entertainment gave her shivers running up and down her spine. Not to mention them even knowing about the intimate and horrific details of her struggles.

Of course, she knew they had no idea whatsoever that it was a living, real person they had been reading about but still. She wondered if all the other worlds existed too that were depicted in the many books, movies, etc. that this world had and people seemed to be obsessed with most of the time. The logical assumption would be that they did in fact exist.

Sighing heavily, she turned on her left side from her back, punching the pillow under her head to a more comfortable form, trying to drift off to sleep when she heard some kind of noise from the hallway. She sat right up, listening as to where it might be coming from. After a few moments, she heard the sounds again, so she decided to go and check it out.

Her bedroom was the closest to the kitchen, and as she stepped out onto the hallway – dressed in sweats, an overly large T-shirt and slippers that Stark had given to her with the express orders not to scratch his floors with her auto-mail leg – she realized that indeed the kitchen was the source of the ruckus. As she peeked around the corner, she spotted a tall blond man in his late twenties, dressed in a checkered blue shirt, leather jacket, and tan pants, casually making a sandwich for himself. Given that the AI running the place wasn't concerned about the man and no alarm went off, Ed assumed that he was a friend.

"Hi," she greeted as she stepped into view making the tall blonde flinch a bit in surprise. He wasn't expecting anyone to be up this late, or early for that matter.

"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," the mysterious man apologized with a kind smile. His whole friendly demeanor and politeness instantly reminded Ed of Al, making her taking a liking to him at once. After a moment or two of Ed not responding, the man came to his senses. "How rude of me, my name is Steve Rogers," he introduced himself offering a hand to Ed which she gladly took. Her metal right arm immediately made him think of Bucky, but he suppressed the urge to comment on it since he was well aware from the little information he got from the Director that the girl had entirely different origins. "You must be Edeline, Fury told me you'd be staying here for a while."

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't asleep. Nice to meet you too, just call me Ed," she said, sitting down – or up depending on the way you look at it – on one of the bar stools across from Steve. Which wasn't actually that easy of a feat, she had to almost jump up for it, but fortunately, the guy in front of her didn't comment about it nor did he seem like the kind of person to tease her even in thought.

"So what's keeping you up?" Steve asked with genuine interest as he turned back to the task of sandwich making. "Do you want one by the way?"

"No, thank you. Just couldn't sleep, my mind is spinning," she explained, putting her head in her hands, elbows propped up the table.

"Drink some warm milk. That usually helps me," he suggested innocently.

"Uhhhmmm… no thank you!2 the alchemist squeaked in a high-pitched voice, uncharacteristic of her, as her face scrunched up in disgust.

"I take it you don't like milk?" Steve probed good-humoredly.

"That's an understatement," the blond girl chuckled with him. _Al would always suggest milk for everything too…_

"You seem like a lot is on your mind. I can listen if you want to share," the man kindly offered when he noticed the solemn expression of Ed.

"Just a strange new world. Too much new information in the last 48 hours," she explained with a heavy sigh.

"Tell me about your world," Steve asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Well, first of all, we have alchemy, instead of these technological advancements, half of which I wouldn't even have a clue where to start guessing at the functionality of," Ed described animatedly with annoyance in her voice.

"Tell me 'bout it!" Steve laughed out.

"Are you not from here either?" Ed asked with surprise.

"Well yes, but I was frozen in a chunk of ice for like 70 years so that kind of puts me in a tight spot with all these new gadgets," he explained with a lopsided smile. _That's just like Al's too…_

"How could you even survive that?" the alchemist asked in disbelief.

"I'm not entirely what you would call a normal human," the man admitted. "Haven't been for a while."

"They experimented on you," it wasn't really a question, more like a statement, and Ed's stomach had a sinking feeling in it.

"I volunteered. I was a sickly little kid who wanted to make a difference in the world during the War. They gave me a means to achieve that," Steve shrugged his shoulders as he took another bite. Ed was glad that at least he wasn't forced into it, but still, the situation felt terribly wrong to her. Given that the man seemed to be at peace with it, she didn't want to probe any further though.

"The others tell me the world I come from sounds a bit like the 1920s of yours," she changed the topic.

"I was born around the 1920s," Steve informed cheerfully.

"So you are what? Like 95?" Ed deduced with a grin.

"Pretty much," he laughed out.

"In my world, I was born in 1899 so that would make me even older," she chuckled. _God, she felt so old despite being sixteen._ "By war, you meant World War II right?" Ed inquired after a moment of silence.

"You know about it?" Steve asked full of surprise.

"I kind of read up on stuff yesterday. Figured it would be good to know the history and such, in case my stay here was longer," the blonde shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess," he commented on Ed's reading habits with a shrug. "I fought the Nazis, more specifically their H.Y.D.R.A. sub-division during the War. Captain Steve Rogers of the Howling Commandos at your service, or Captain America as they like to call me," he introduced himself again with a little bow.

"Isn't that a bit cheesy?" she chuckled at his title. "But I guess being called the Hero of the People is just as cheesy," she smiled fondly. She liked helping people, _it was what alchemy was for after all…_

"Are you military too?" the Captain asked with surprise. Fury didn't mention this part, and the girl sitting in front of him was clearly still a teenager.

"Yeah, State Alchemist," she confirmed. "That actually automatically made me a Major, so I outrank you!" she teased good-humoredly snapping her fingers.

"Yes, Sir!" Steve played along, saluting with mock stiffness. "What was your country like? I mean you are awfully young to be serving."

"I signed up of my own accord," Ed sighed. _How many more times do I have to explain this to people?_ "Amestris… well, it was very military oriented. Ever since the current Führer President. Actually, it's not King Bradley not anymore, I wonder who took his place… Anyway, after Bradley became the leader, the country became focused on taking over new territories and eliciting conflict with minorities and bordering countries to – as we later found out – construct a huge human transmutation circle engulfing the whole country, sacrificing the entire population to a massive Philosopher's Stone to cater to the whims of the master homunculus he and the other homunculi called 'Father'."

"Wow. I gather he wasn't human then?" Steve couldn't understand most of what had just been said, but that much he could pick up that this military dictatorship was even more wicked than the Nazis they had defeated. Although eerily similar.

"No, he was an artificial human made by Father," Ed explained further.

"But you guys managed to stop him right?" he asked with the hope that the reason why Ed was here wasn't that they had failed and their world was destroyed.

"Yes, both King Bradley and Father. The final battle ended actually just before I arrived here," Ed revealed. The Captain was relieved and proud of the girl at the same time. He could see why Fury wanted someone like her on the team despite her age.

"How did you end up in our world then, if you don't mind my asking?" he probed, now his full attention on Ed.

"I…" she paused.

Ed felt strongly that she can trust the Captain, they seemed to have so much in common in terms of experience, and the resemblance to Al just automatically created a soft spot for him in her heart. So she decided to go with the truth.

"When I was eleven, I tried to alchemically bring back my mother from the dead with my little brother who was ten at the time, which cost both of us dearly. Even more so for Al. I lost my left leg while Al's whole body got taken as a toll by the Gate. In a last desperate attempt, I sacrificed my right arm to pull his soul back and affixed it to a suit of armor. I promised him that I would get his body back. I was making good on that promise after the battle, but Truth didn't accept my alchemy as payment in exchange for Al and sent me here instead," she explained never looking up from her hands that were shaking slightly as she recounted the biggest mistake of her life. She had never actually confessed it this openly to anyone. Most people just guessed that they committed the biggest taboo of them all, but wouldn't know the whole story behind it.

"Are you still trying to revive your mother?" Steve asked with concern.

"No!" exclaimed instantly. "I learned my lesson," Ed paused. "I just want to get back to Al," the young girl confessed with such sorrow that made Steve's heart constrict in pity for the siblings.

Steve made his way around the counter and embraced Ed in a sort of fatherly hug that at first startled her and she stiffened up, but she soon relaxed into to the touch. So much so that she ended up falling asleep and Steve had to carry her back to the guestroom.

* * *

Ed woke up around noon, actually feeling quite well rested, though she couldn't exactly remember how she wound back in the room, only that she had divulged her darkest secret to a man she had just met twenty minutes prior to that. She quickly took a shower in the en-suite bathroom and got changed into a sleeveless shirt and shorts since she wasn't planning on going out, then ventured toward the rest of the apartment.

She found both men sitting in the kitchen eating lunch.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Tony teased the alchemist, earning a murderous look from her.

"Leave her alone Tony, she had a rough night," Steve defended her, smiling at her, which made Ed relax that she didn't alienate him with her confession last night. "Lunch?" he asked.

"Yes, please!" she said as her stomach grumbled loudly, making all of them chuckle.

* * *

Later that day Ed and Tony were back at the workshop where, as it turned out, the engineer had already prepared a prototype of Ed's arm that had all the necessary components to the auto-mail on it, with only the nerve connection not solved yet.

"Now since I am no doctor or bio-engineer, I tried to work around the problem with a solution that didn't actually involve detaching and reattaching your arm and leg from the nerve endings. I assume that process is excruciatingly painful," Stark began to explain.

"When the nerves get connected, it is, but it's manageable," Ed mentioned, but in reality, she was kind of glad that she might not have to go through that again.

"So what I came up with is that I can replace all of the outer shells and plates around the core beam that acts as your bone, pneumatic actuators and electric motors that are essentially your muscles, and the wires that connect all these acting as nerves fairly easily, with the same alloy that I actually use for my Iron Man suits, since it's lighter and more durable than steel," he continued showing what he made on said prototype that resembled Ed's arm.

He went on when he saw that Ed was contemplating the whole thing. "Of course if that doesn't work for you I can actually take off and disassemble your arm so that I can see how exactly that port of your works and connects to your nerves, and come up with a solution to replace the whole thing entirely but that will definitely take more time."

"No, I actually like the idea," she said finally. "Just _please_ don't make it gold colored." Fortunately, all the parts on the dummies were red, but she just wanted to make sure.

"Not your color scheme?" Tony smirked teasingly, but Ed didn't comment on it.

"When will the parts be ready?" she asked eagerly, wanting to get this done as soon as possible.

"You underestimate me," Tony snorted looking all smug. "They are all done," he said, pointing a finger at the prototype, detaching the parts that he would be using on Ed's arm, then taking out another model of Ed's leg, doing the same.

Ed got on top of and lied down on the workbench, extending her arm straight out to her right like she always did with Winry, allowing Stark to work on her limbs.

* * *

Two hours and a few scream fests later that had resulted because Stark tried to pull too hard on some of the screws, Ed was finally equipped with her new gear.

"Wow, so light!" she enthused as she flexed and moved around her hand while doing some shoulder, knee and ankle circles to test the fluidity of the movements.

"Want to try them out in action?" Tony inquired with a look in his eyes that Ed thought could only mean trouble.

"What crazy idea has gotten into your mind?" she asked warily.

"Fight me," he stated simply.

"That isn't exactly action if the other day is anything to go by," Ed snorted as she recalled the face that he had made when she had pinned him with the spear.

"Oh, no, no," Tony shook his finger back and forth. "I'll be in my Iron Man suit this time," he smirked thinking that would ensure his victory over the blonde.

"You want to go all out?" Ed asked in disbelief.

"Well, within reasonable limits! I don't want to kill you… my repulsors will be set to low-level, they will just knock you on your back," Tony declared overconfidently.

"Have it your way," the alchemist sighed. "Just be prepared to part ways with your suit."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony called after her as she started to walk out of the workshop.

"You will see…" she waved him off, not bothering to turn around.

* * *

Ten minutes and a few changes of clothing – or armor – later they were standing face to face in the vast gym area of the apartment. Ed was in her trademark outfit accentuated by her red coat to get her in the right frame of mind.

"Don't worry I will fix up everything after we are done," Ed reassured Iron Man, who with his face guard still up was looking around the room seemingly saying silent goodbyes to some of his possessions.

"Alrighty then… F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Music!" he called to the AI, and AC/DC's Back to Black came on instantly through the speakers in the room. Of course, Ed had no idea what the music was but found that despite the over-dramatic pompous effect it gave to the armored man in front her, it kind of suited the situation, firing her up for the fight.

Ed clapped her hands together then placing her left hand on the guard of her right, transmuting it into a blade – now crimson red – that extended over her fist.

"Hey! Don't go ruining my work!" the mechanic in Tony yelled out.

"God, you sound just like Winry!" Ed huffed in exasperation. _At least he doesn't throw around wrenches…_ – she added inwardly.

"Who?" Stark asked confused.

"My mechanic. Never mind," she shooed him off. "Are we gonna fight or what?" the blonde added when she noticed that Tony still hadn't put the mask of the armor on. Iron Man didn't bother to answer that just lowered the face guard of the suit into place and motioned with his hand for Ed to come at him. Ed smirked that she was so grossly underestimated.

She charged at him with full speed, ducking out of the way and dodging the few repulsor blasts that Stark sent her way. _Wow, she is fast! I almost can't see her movements…_ – Tony commented in thought as the auto-aiming on the display in his mask tried to get Ed into focus but failed miserably. He barely managed to side-step when Ed was already in front of him, clapping her hands together and aiming at grabbing his suit. Instead of falling on her face from the unused momentum, the blonde used it to propel herself around in lighting speed, aiming her blade at the armor. That Tony could block with his arms – even if barely – but the kick that came by the alchemist's left foot right after was unexpected and sent him staggering a few steps back.

To tell the truth, Iron Man was more of a long-distance and not a close-contact fighter with his missiles, repulsors, and the girl's speed, agility, and small size made it practically impossible for Stark to get any kind of footing in the fight.

Before the alchemist could charge at him again, he sent a fresh round of dual repulsor beams at the blonde which forced Ed to dodge them with a backflip, thus the beams flying over her abdomen without hitting her. Mid-air she clapped her hands together, and when she landed on them, she transmuted the floor to wrap around Iron Man all the way to above mid-waist, trapping his hands too. Before he could break out, she clapped her hands again and made a run for him, this time succeeding, and she touched his armor she fused the metal around the joints and where plates met on the surface together, effectively restraining the man's movements.

"Okay, okay, I give up!" Stark pleaded as the automation lifted off his mask. "Just don't go ruin my suit any further!" he groaned in despair. Although he did have at least fifteen sets of similar suits, this one was his favorite.

Ed smirked in triumph then clapped her hands together to free the man from his grounded prison. When she clapped again, Tony's eyes first widened in horror, but then he realized that Ed restored his armor's surface to its former state.

What they hadn't realized was that they had an audience through the whole encounter. Both of them snapped their heads to the entrance of the gym when they heard the clapping. By the door, a redheaded woman – unknown to Ed yet – stood beside Captain America. Ed didn't know what it was about the newcomer, but it made her instantly wary of her and yet somehow weirdly attracted to her at the same. It was as if she was pulling her in with a trap of sorts, like a deadly predator."

"Good fight, Ed! I'm impressed," Steve praised making the girl break out into a huge grin.

"Wow, Iron Man gets kicked in the butt by a little girl…" the redhead began – and there went any attraction what so ever that Ed might have felt out the window.

"DON'T FUCKING CALL ME LITTLE!" the blonde burst out in pure outrage, barely holding herself back from transmuting a giant fist to knock her out.

"Ha! I like her already!" the woman laughed in a deep sultry voice.

"Natasha…" Steve admonished her.

He had become very protective of their newest team member very quickly. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to gauge whether anything was going on between the two, but came up empty-handed, so she shrugged it off. Ed kept staring at her furiously, vaguely remembering that Stark had mentioned her in their first encounter.

"Fine!" Natasha called out in frustration under the scrutinizing stare of the Captain. "I'm sorry, won't happen again," she apologized to Ed. "Natasha Romanoff, by the way, or just Black Widow if you prefer," the spy introduced herself as an afterthought as she sauntered out of the room.


	6. Avengers assemble?

_**Chapter 6: Avengers assemble?**_

* * *

Ed was looking over the city of Manhattan, deep in thought as she sat on the balcony, dangling her left foot off the ledge while leaning onto her right leg which she had brought up to her chest. This big metropolis was the opposite of Resembool in every possible way, and she felt a sharp bout of homesickness bubble up inside her.

"What's up, kiddo?" Steve, who had come out looking for her since she just disappeared after the match with Stark, asked.

"Don't call me a kid," Ed replied in a resigned voice. "I haven't been a kid for a long time."

"You know, you can still act your age when nothing is going on," the Captain tried to reassure Ed. "It doesn't hurt to unwind sometimes."

"I think I relinquished that right when I committed the greatest taboo," the alchemist declared in a grim tone, her already sour mood bringing out her darkest thoughts.

"You know…" Steve began, pausing to wait for Ed to look at him. "I don't blame you for what you did. And I would doubt that Al blamed you either."

Ed couldn't say anything to that. Instead, she just turned back to look at the skyline with a scowl on her face.

"My mother died too when I was young," the blond soldier continued when the girl wouldn't respond, joining her in watching the view. "Tuberculosis took her, there was no cure for it at the time. There were many nights I wished I could bring her back."

"You didn't actually _try_ it though," Ed remarked full of guilt.

"I didn't have the knowledge nor the means to do it. Heck, I didn't even know there was a possibility…" Steve stated, looking back at the blonde with seriousness, the implications heavy in his words. "Grief can warp your thoughts in ways you can't imagine until you experience it. Dwelling on it isn't going to help though. The question is: how are you going to move forward?"

Ed sighed heavily as she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them back up, a new found determination and strength shone in them, as if with that breath of air all her stress, self-hatred and guilt vanished too.

"Thanks," she said finally, a shy smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Anytime," Steve acknowledged, returning her smile with one of his own when they were suddenly interrupted.

"Come on love-birds, we got another arrival," Stark called from the exit to the balcony, snickering to himself. Neither Ed nor Steve dignified it with an answer, just shook their heads at the supposedly grown man's antics.

* * *

Upon reentering the large living area, Ed spotted the new stranger at once. The man with dirty blond hair was dressed in a black sleeveless light-armor type of shirt with black military style slacks and boots.

Before he could introduce himself though, Natasha walked in from the hallway at the other end of the room and greeted the man with great familiarity.

"Hey, Clint! Didn't know you would be here too!" she enthused with a broad smile, then plopped down beside him on the couch.

"Hey, Nat!" Clint returned the gesture, his eyes glinting with a certain fondness for his colleague.

The carefree spirited encounter that seemed so out of character from the redheaded assassin – at least based on what Ed knew so far about her – prompted the girl to whisper to the other blonde beside her.

"Are they together or what?" she asked conspiratorially.

"You mean Romanoff and Hawkeye? Nah… they just know each other from _way_ back. He is married with kids, and she likes the big guy…" Steve winked good-humoredly, but Ed just couldn't figure out who he meant. "You haven't met him yet," he added quickly when he saw that the gears were already turning in the blond girl's head trying to guess who the "big guy" was. Instead of pondering, she walked up behind them at the sofa.

"Small world!" Ed exclaimed as she leaned over the couch between the agents. "I know a Hawkeye from back home too!" she continued flashing a goofy smile. "Ed Elric, but you have probably been briefed on that already."

"Yeah, Clint Barton, nice to meet you. Hawkeye is only the code name," he greeted politely although keeping a bit of distance. "Does your guy happen to be an archer too?" he asked cocking one of his brows incredulously.

"Well, sniper primarily, although _she_ can hit you between the eyes with any type of gun," Ed explained nonchalantly at first then she remembered the scary and way-too-trigger-happy attitude the Lieutenant usually had, which made her shiver. "You don't want to get on her bad side," she shook her head in horror.

"Scary gal, huh?" Clint laughed.

"Especially if a certain Colonel doesn't do his paperwork," Ed laughed mockingly.

"Was he your superior? What's he like?" Steve chimed into the conversation genuinely interested in the person who would employ a 12-year-old in the military.

"Well technically still is…" Ed rolled her eyes. She tried to gauge the soldier if she should speak her mind freely about her CO, not knowing how seriously Steve took the chain of command. "Quite frankly Colonel Roy Mustang is a lazy, contradicting, womanizing, infuriating bastard…" she began animatedly then when she saw the Captain's horrified expression she added. "But he is also a good man, one who cares about his subordinates to the utmost degree. Very skilled alchemist too. Had me running for my money a couple of times."

"I take it you were close then?" Steve laughed. He didn't use to require the stiff military formality from his squad either.

"I wouldn't say…" she hesitated. "Maybe… he looked out for me, and usually let Al and I be and free to go on our quest to get our bodies back to normal," she said aloud then realized that she wasn't alone with Steve and mentally slapped herself for letting this information slip.

"It's alright, we know…" Tony commented when he saw the blonde tense up due to her blunder. "Cameras everywhere," he added noticing the girl's confused expression.

"Are you spying on me?" Ed asked with outrage.

"Not specifically, no. They run all the time anyway. You know… security purposes," Stark shrugged it off, but Ed was still seething.

"Soooo…" Clint interrupted trying to lighten the mood. "Did Fury call Avengers assemble just to introduce us to the new girl or is something actually going on? And how come we are here instead of Upstate?"

"There better be!" Natasha fumed, ignoring the other question. Truthfully that place was more of a base than home, even if they all had personal quarters that they could decorate to their liking. In the Tower, they could unwind more. "He pulled me from an undercover op I have been working on for six months in Russia!"

"Well it's not exactly an assembly if not everyone's here, is it?" Tony joked with a scotch in his hand which Ed just now noticed. _Was he always drinking?_

"Well only Thor and the Hulk are missing, and it's not like Fury can have the God of Thunder jump at his every whim. Do you know anything about the big guy, Nat?" Barton inquired from the Black Widow.

"Not since…" she trailed off sadly as she recalled Bruce leaving them after the fight with Ultron.

"You forgot Wanda," Tony interjected dryly taking a sip of his drink. "You always forget about Wanda. Not to mention Sam… And Rhodey… And the Vision."

"Did somebody miss me?"

Speaking of the devil, the brunette witch walked in right on cue with a wicked smile on her face. Black dress, crimson leather jacket met black leather pants and red coat, both of them staring at each other's similar outfits.

"You must be Edeline!" Wanda enthused and ran up to the blonde who she instantly took a liking to and hugged her taking Ed entirely by surprise.

"Uhm… hi?" the blonde greeted, but it almost sounded like a question. She wasn't used to random people just hugging her. In fact, over the many years of pretending to be a boy, she had actively avoided almost any close physical contact with others in fear of getting found out. So she just stood there frozen and embarrassed until the other girl decided to grab her by the shoulders and push her away a bit to get a better look at her clothes. Despite this, the cross-snake insignia on the back of the girl's red coat somehow eluded Wanda's attention.

"It's almost as if we coordinated!" she laughed out, finally letting the alchemist go, who just shook her head, trying to get rid of the feeling that her mind was played with. Despite her personal space having just been grossly invaded, she found that she actually quite liked the similarly black-red color scheme lover girl.

* * *

Since none of them were given any other instruction by Fury than to come to the Tower to meet Ed, they had decided to spend the evening with some strategic coordination. Getting to know each other's powers, strengths, weaknesses to learn how they could assist their team members better in battle, should the situation arise seemed like a productive way to spend their time. For some – namely Stark – it of course involved some drinking too.

They also did some power demonstrations, where Ed re-explained the principles of her craft, continually being interrupted by Stark insisting that essentially she was just doing magic. It got to the point where Ed actually – even if not seriously – asked the Scarlet Witch to magically implant the correct idea about alchemy in Tony's skull and while at it prohibit him from spewing nonsense at her all the time. Of course, only after getting over the shock of learning about Wanda's ability to control the mind and at the time same time finding out the explanation to her earlier feeling of instant friendliness towards her. Somehow Ed didn't mind in the end. She had found that a bit puzzling too.

By the end, though everyone unanimously agreed that combined with her martial arts skills Ed's fighting potential was something close to merging the Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch, being adept at close and long range fighting. They even joked about the fact that the pairing also matched her favorite colors.

"What's up with these 'superhero' names though?" Ed asked the group in general when she got her baffled mind under control after Wanda demonstrated what she could do with her telekinesis. _Where was the equivalent exchange!?_

"Ha! Don't worry, you will get one stuck on you soon enough…" Wanda commented winking at her teasingly.

"Oh, no-no! I think I had enough of the names with my state title!" Ed snorted at the thought that she might be getting yet another label glued to her so to speak.

"What is a state title?" Captain America inquired.

"It was a custom in the military that every State Alchemist got a second name given to them by the Führer President, hinting in some way at their specialty within alchemy. My title is the Fullmetal Alchemist," Ed smirked. She always thought it was a hefty name to bear, but she wore it gladly.

"Waaaaait a minute!" Wanda screeched out so loud that Ed winced at the pain in her eardrums. "As in the anime and manga Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"Uhm… yes…" she said shyly. _Great! A fan…_

"I thought the Fullmetal Alchemist was a boy named Edward Elric," the witch stated perplexedly.

"Well, it's a common mistake. I _was_ pretending to be a boy back in my world…" she rolled her eyes. "But if you know about it, I would have imagined that you guessed this earlier based on my last name."

"Fury never told me your last name, just that I'm coming to meet a girl named Edeline," Wanda scowled as she contemplated the new developments. "Anthony Bault's theory was right after all… well at least in some part," she added as she thought about the details that Hiromu Arakawa either got wrong or changed.

"Who is that?" Ed inquired.

"A guy who theorized that all fictional stories – books, movies, anime, manga, etc. – are real in another world," Ed just nodded that she understood. "Aren't you surprised at all?" Wanda questioned when she didn't see an ounce of bewilderment on the blonde's face at the thought that millions of people knew about her life through Japanese pop-culture.

"Stark already broke it to me yesterday," she said nonchalantly pointing a thumb towards said man.

"Eh? I didn't take you for an otaku," Wanda teased Tony mischievously.

"Not me, a girl I used to know," he countered giving a piercing look to the brunette.

"Yes, yes, I would say that too," the witch smirked dismissively. "I wonder if the manga and Brotherhood or the original anime adaptation got it right?" she wondered to herself out loud.

"Well I only read the manga, but it seemed pretty accurate," Ed commented on the girl's musings.

"You read the whole manga? When? How?" she thought that Ed only arrived in this world the day before yesterday. _How can someone read so much in that time? It took her weeks to finish it!_ And she didn't even know the half of it…

"Yesterday afternoon…" Ed began but paused as she saw the girl's jaw literally drop at that. _Mere hours?_

"Well, the anime was right, you are a genius!" she managed after getting her wits together. Ed didn't comment on it, just rolled her eyes, but the slight smile tugging at her lips suggested that she was flattered by the compliment.

"Speaking of books. I need a library where I could possibly find information on this world's alchemy. The internet was of no use, but since it's a dead science here, maybe there are some old records that they didn't bother to digitalize. There might be another way to make to Philosopher's Stone since clearly different rules apply to this world," she said glancing at her friend who possessed talents unimaginable in their world, thinking of ways to gain the necessary energy required as toll at the Gate.

"You can't be serious…" Wanda shook her head in disbelief. The Edward she knew wouldn't go after the Philosopher's Stone after finding out the main ingredient to it were human souls.

"Why, what's wrong?" Natasha interjected sensing the tense atmosphere suddenly between the girls.

"Making the Philosopher's Stone requires the sacrifice of human lives," Wanda informed her grimly, giving a meaningful look to Ed.

"That's why I said _another_ way," Ed huffed exasperatedly. _Did she really take her for that kind of a person?_

"What other way could there be?" Wanda retorted in the same exasperated tone.

"I don't know!" the alchemist exclaimed. "That's why I want to go read and find out!"

"I'm a 100% percent sure Edeline wouldn't do that," Steve decided to butt in by calmingly placing a hand on both girls' shoulders and reassure the Scarlet Witch. They kept staring at each other with pointed glares for a bit longer then Wanda sighed, letting the topic go.

"You are right. The Ed I know wouldn't do that," she added, giving a meaningful look to Ed to provide her with a warning that she would be watching her.


	7. The dangers of the Big Apple

_**Chapter 7: The dangers of the Big Apple**_

* * *

The next day, Edeline decided to explore the city a bit, and also visit the Public Library in hopes of finding something of use. Seeing that in her regular clothes she would have stuck out like a sore thumb, Natasha and Wanda had lent her some more casual wear – namely black jeans and that red leather jacket that caught Ed's eye yesterday. At first, Ed had found the feel of the denim against her skin very bizarre but got used to it quite fast and concluded that it wasn't a bad choice in terms of everyday clothing. Fortunately, it was still chilly in New York in mid-spring so the black gloves that Ed decided to wear to hide her auto-mail hand wouldn't draw any attention.

The others tried to give her some directions and advice as to which neighborhoods she should avoid. She just laughed at that, doubting that any of the regular folk around the city would be able to give her any trouble. They also explained how to find and navigate the different subway lines, which the blonde concluded were essentially underground trains. She wondered briefly how the tunnels were made for it and thought of Sloth, the homunculus that had dug the enormous circular tunnel around Amestris for the transmutation circle. Of course, she knew that probably some kind of large-scale machinery was invented for this purpose instead of supernatural means.

The alchemist wanted to transmute some gold to pawn later for the currency the country used but was met with bewildered gazes from the others and Tony just handed her a credit card, stating to use it to her liking and to not worry about repaying him since he had way too much money for his own good. (Then muttered " _I will make Fury reimburse me later anyway._ " under his breath, but Ed didn't hear that.) She looked at the little plastic card with a doubtful expression. The blonde had no idea how it could contain or hold the necessary money, or how it worked, but shrugged after a second concluding that she would just have to figure it out as she went.

Stark even gave her something called a smartphone with each team member's cell phone number programmed into it so that she could contact them if something unexpected came up. The touchscreen annoyed her to no end, especially that she could only use it with her left hand as it wouldn't respond to her metal auto-mail. Pocketing it with a sigh, she was out the door at last.

Roaming the streets, she stumbled upon a fabric store and decided to buy a whole bunch of material that she would later transmute to clothes in styles that matched this world's conventional fashion but were designed in ways that she would still feel comfortable in since she didn't want to keep borrowing stuff from others. A few corners later she ran into a shopping district. At first, she was amazed when she saw the wide range of clothing that could be bought in different styles and colors, then she cursed because of the same reason, seemingly unable to decide what types of clothes she should make later. At the same time, she was glad that she didn't have to _actually_ go through the motions of buying garments because she had absolutely no idea how the people of this Earth could make heads or tails in this flurry of choices.

Since she wandered quite far from her intended destination, a few easy subway rides later – she had the whole subway network memorized from a map before she left – Ed finally arrived at the Main Branch of the Public Library, which by the way was literally two blocks from the Tower. The style of the building reminded the alchemist of the National Central Library back home which she found comforting. Upon entering, Ed got herself a library card since she anticipated that she would be visiting the place quite often from then on. Fullmetal – after quickly surveying the large interior hall – went and found herself a librarian that seemed nice enough and chatted her up regarding where she could see alchemy related books.

"Alchemy?" the librarian, named Betty, asked in surprise. "What a peculiar topic to research," she mused out loud.

"Uhm… it's for a school project," Ed lied with almost no hesitation, and for once she was glad that she looked like a high schooler. "We have to research the origins of modern sciences," she smiled goofily scratching the back of her head.

"Let me see what we can find," the lady said as she went up to the computer to search in the catalog. After a few minutes, she asked Ed to follow her and took her to one of the more remote chambers in the building and showed her to the shelves at the very end that held the few books they could offer on the topic. Well, few if you compared it to the collection Amestris had, but it was still numerous.

"Some of these are quite old so handle them with care," Betty warned her then left her to her devices.

Not bothering to bring the books to a table, the alchemist selected the ones that looked promising and plopped down on the floor right there between the shelves to start reading.

* * *

And she read and read all the way to closing time, which is when she was found by Betty to kick her out. She found great amusement in the way Ed sat there surrounded by piles of books. Fortunately, the librarian was kind enough to help the blonde quickly put back the books in their rightful places before escorting her out of the building waving enthusiastically at her.

"I like bookworms like you! It's such a rare sight nowadays. Come find me anytime you like if you need help," she offered, laughing as she shook her head, still in awe as she headed back inside to close up.

"You can quit following me you know," the alchemist turned serious as she seemingly addressed one of the columns by the entrance after the librarian was safely out of earshot.

"When did you notice me?" Wanda wandered into sight from behind the column, having no point in hiding anymore.

"Since I left the Tower," Ed shrugged, shifting her bags from her left hand to her right. It's not like Wanda was too inconspicuous in her endeavor. The alchemist wasn't angry with the brunette, she just wished that the witch would stop doubting her already. It was getting old really fast."

"Did you find anything interesting?" Wanda inquired curiously, genuinely interested, but also trying to check up on the blonde's activities.

"Not a thing…" the alchemist sighed, starting to walk down the stairs swiftly, forcing the other girl to run after her to catch up. "My earlier suspicions were correct so far. This world is stuck like 600 years in the past regarding alchemy. Still at the phase when alchemists were just simply obsessed with turning base metals into gold. The Philosopher's Stone is seemingly a myth, no actual theory on how to make it. I knew more about alchemy by the age of six for Truth's sake," the blonde ended up ranting in frustration as they walked back towards the Tower.

"Why do you need the Philosopher's Stone anyway?" the Scarlet Witch inquired.

"To get back to Amestris I need some kind of toll at the Gate," Ed stated giving the brunette a "you-should-know-this-if-you-have-read-everything-about-my-life" look.

"How did you end up here again?" she asked since no one had really explained it to her before.

"Remember the scene from the manga where I trade my alchemy for Al at the Gate, and we live happily ever after?" Ed uttered full of sarcasm, then continued when the witch nodded. "It didn't go down quite like that. That bastard Truth sent me here instead."

"Did Al get his body back though?" Wanda asked suddenly full of concern. Al was always her favorite from the series with his gentle personality, Ed being a bit too volatile and obnoxious for her liking, but the person she saw in front of herself wasn't as one-sided as the anime have depicted him – or her.

"I did see him get pulled through the other Gate, so I hope yes. But I can't know for certain. That is the main reason I want to go back to make sure," she explained with a heavy sigh. "You know, given that you know so much about me, how could you believe I would make the Philosopher's Stone with human lives? I didn't make one back then, refused the ones already made, even when Hohenheim offered himself to me."

The witch nodded in understanding, taking the explanation in fully.

"In the first anime adaptation, you did almost make one though," the witch confessed the source of her doubts.

"Well that is clearly a mischaracterization, that version wasn't made by Hiromu Arakawa or based on her work, right? She is the one I believe had the vision about Amestris that prompted her to write the manga," Ed stated pointedly. Wanda's eyes went wide with realization, and she suddenly felt guilty for doubting her and giving her attitude. She stayed silent, knowing that the blonde knew that she now understood.

"Wait! What about Winry?" the brunette inquired after a while, out of nowhere, full of anticipation knowing what she knew from the anime, but taking Ed entirely by surprise.

"W-what about her?" the blond girl stuttered in embarrassment, not knowing what she was implying, but still blushing a little at her tone.

"Mmhmm…" Wanda hummed with a wicked glint of understanding in her eye. _Go figure that the Fullmetal Alchemist was a lesbian… although it seemed she hadn't admitted it to herself yet. That explains the long time it took in the anime for Ed to confess to her._

By this time, they had made it back to the Tower, but Ed's mind was still running wild, the mention of her loved ones riling up her desperation to get home even more.

"Could you take these up for me?" she asked turning to the brunette, handing her the bags.

"You not coming?" the girl asked with astonishment.

"I'm gonna take a walk," she said with a shrug. "Need to clear my head."

"Oh. Okay," Wanda said after a moment, taking the bags. With her worries now calmed by their talk, she didn't even think about stalking her again.

* * *

After her friend was safely inside Ed turned back onto the street and just let her feet take her wherever as her mind began to turn over the day's new information – or the lack of thereof. Unbeknownst to her, she soon found herself in the Theatre District. Not paying attention to where she went, Ed accidentally turned onto a dead-end alleyway. She didn't really pay it much thought, just turned around to exit it, when a man holding a knife blocked her way.

"Hand over your money, kid!" he demanded, threatening her with the sharp object in hand. Of course, it didn't even faze the alchemist, she just transmuted her right arm with a clap to her blade, smirking at the man, who stared at the strange sight, frozen in place. Before she could do anything though, a red-blue blur swept the armed man away, knocking him out then tying him up with a white sticky-looking substance coming out of his wrists.

While he did this, Ed took a better look at the mysterious person. He was leanly built, dressed in red and blue full-body tights and mask, with a spider emblem on his chest. To say that it was one of the weirdest sights the alchemist had seen since coming here was a huge understatement. Ed also noticed that the person in front of her couldn't be older than a teenager based on his body structure.

"You should be more careful, these streets are known for one the highest violent crime rates," the boy said after he finished his deed, turning back to Ed. You could tell he was genuinely concerned for the stranger he had just saved.

"Wow, nice Fullmetal cosplay, girl," he exclaimed as he checked Ed out to see if she was hurt. "Is there some ComicCon going on around here I don't know about?" Ed had no idea what cosplay or ComicCon was but groaned inwardly at the thought that another person recognized her when she wasn't even in her regular clothes. Of course, her bladed auto-mail hand was a dead giveaway. As her hair and eye color too. Add a red jacket and black pants, her usual color scheme…

"Although that blade shouldn't be red…" 'Spider-man,' as Ed decided to call him, stated after inspecting her further as if following her train of thought. "Or this realistic for that matter," he added looking straight into Ed's eyes seriously, although she wouldn't have been able to tell due to the mask. "Just who the hell are you?"

"Just your friendly neighborhood alchemist," Ed smirked as she transmuted her hand back, no point in denying it and given that he had just "saved" her – even if she didn't need it – she doubted that he would harm her. "Who the hell are you?" she threw his question right back at him.

"Hey, that's my line!" red-blue dressed man exclaimed affronted. "But seriously who are you?"

"You guessed right the first time, the Fullmetal Alchemist," Ed shrugged.

"But you are…" he began in wonder.

"Yes, a girl. Please don't make me explain it. You clearly know the manga or anime, thus know me, but you still have me at a disadvantage," she stated impatiently.

"Spider-Man," the man in tights finally said.

"How original!" Ed teased with irony, rolling her eyes. _What's up with these names? I didn't actually think that he was called that._ "Is everyone a superhero around here? How old are you even to be up to this?" she mused out loud.

"Back at ya!" he exclaimed, appalled that someone younger than himself questioned his ability.

"I'm sixteen," Fullmetal admitted. It didn't really matter to her what he thought.

"Nineteen," the boy said a bit proudly. "Why? Who else do you know by the way?" he asked remembering her line about everyone being a superhero in town.

"The Avengers."

"You are with the Avengers?" Spider-Man almost yelled in astonishment.

"Yes."

"And they didn't even ask me…"

"Well, did you ask them to take you on the team?"

"No."

"Do they even know you exist?"

"I don't know."

Ed face-palmed at the end of their fast-paced banter.

"How is this even possible?" Spider-Man finally asked, unable to let go of the image he had about one of his favorite anime and the fact that the protagonist of it was standing right in from of him.

Ed sighed heavily and explained the reason for her gender-swapping and how she got to this world in a nutshell yet again. She decided she was just going to wear a sign from now on.

"I take it your world just collapsed, given that I can see the dumbstruck expression on your face even through the mask," Ed pointed out with a bit of worry. She really didn't need him going into shock over this.

"You were my hero in my childhood," he admitted.

"Well, now I'm your heroine," the alchemist countered. _Seriously why is everyone so hung up on my gender?_

"What's your name? I'm sure it's not Edward," the spider questioned like a reprimanding father figure as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Edeline. You can still call me Ed. I'm guessing Spider-Man isn't your real name either, right?" Ed concluded the obvious.

"Yes, but I would rather not reveal my identity. I have people to protect. You can call me Spidey tho," he smirked.

"Understandable," she agreed. Just then Spidey snapped his head to the side as if he heard something Ed couldn't hear.

"I have to go. See you around?" he asked hopefully.

"I guess…" the alchemist answered, but he was already shooting a spider-web sling to somewhere above, pulling himself up in the air and swinging away between the tall buildings, leaving Ed gaping.

* * *

"Oh my God, you are finally back! I was starting to get worried!" Steve fussed over Ed in a kind of fatherly/big brotherly kind of way when she got back to the Tower, everyone was waiting for her in the living area clearly relaxing that nothing happened to the young girl who was still unfamiliar with this world. "Where have you been?"

"Just taking a walk, geez," she rolled her eyes exasperatedly. _It's not like any of these people were my parents to worry like this over me._

"What happened?" the Captain probed further sternly when he saw the thorn gloves.

"Some idiot tried to mug me with a knife, so I had to demonstrate who had the bigger stick so to speak," Ed said nonchalantly waving them off.

"You fought the guy?!" almost everyone exclaimed at the same time, making Ed wince as the loud noise made her head hurt.

"Nah, a friendly neighborhood spider took care of that before I could do anything," she answered with a smirk.

"You met Spider-Man?" Natasha interjected quirking a brow.

"So you guys do know about him!" Ed accused. "Geez, he was so down that I got onto the Avengers before him."

"Wait, he knows who you are?" Steve was taken aback.

"Another anime fan, so yeah. Didn't even need introductions. He thought I was cosplaying as myself," she said giving Wanda a knowing glance. "Had a nice chat with him too, seemed like a good-hearted, sincere guy. Helping the damsels in 'distress' of the city," the alchemist laughed out at the distressed part. She was the farthest from it. Well, at least in the sense where muggers and petty criminals were concerned. "You should really consider him for the team."

"It's not up to us," Natasha stated. "Fury makes those decisions."

Ed just huffed at that, not noticing Stark's thoughtful expression.

* * *

 **A/N: I found information online that the Stark Tower is located on the MetLife Building's spot, hence the reference that it was two blocks from the library.**

 **Spider-Man in my mind will always be Toby Maguire! I know in the original Spider-Man series he should be in college, I don't know what age exactly, with being 19 it's possible, but I need him to be kind of young for this to work. – UPDATE: I stand corrected. After watching Civil War, officially this Spidey is full-on Tom Holland. UPDATE of UPDATE: After Homecoming even more so :D hence I added the Stark reference here :D**

 **Someone said in one review that Wanda was essentially a closet otaku, well with Peter Parker and his geekiness I imagine him to be openly into this stuff.**


	8. Involuntary Break Part I

_**Chapter 8: Involuntary Break Part I**_

* * *

Two days after her encounter with Spider-Man, the Fullmetal Alchemist was nowhere to be seen around the Tower. She was usually up at dawn by the first rays of the sun, and down at the gym working her muscles up to par so that they could deal with the greater strain that was on them despite the lighter auto-mail. Right alongside Steve, who also liked the early morning routine of doing a few rounds on the punching bag. But it was already closing in on noon, and the team was starting to get worried, Steve at the forefront of it.

* * *

What they didn't know was that Ed had woken up in a hot-cold shivering mess around 9 AM.

"Crap," she groaned out loud as she realized the telltale signs of a fever and winced at how raspy her voice sounded. "Just what I needed," the sick alchemist muttered to herself sarcastically, turning on her other side, pulling the covers from the other end of the bed around herself too, and went back to sleep. To tell the truth, she _had been_ feeling kind of achy and tired the day before, but she had just chalked it up to fatigue and muscle strain.

She had realized her error by now.

* * *

At 2 PM the Captain's patience wore off under the uneasy feeling that something must be wrong since Ed hadn't shown herself thus far, so he decided to check on her.

Steve knocked lightly on her door then entered after a few seconds when he didn't get an answer. What he didn't expect was to find the blinds still closed, and the blond girl curled up in a ball under a pile of blankets. At the creak of the door, she opened her eyes, squinting at the sudden light.

"Go away," she managed grumpily, her voice breaking.

Hearing how Ed's voice was, Steve scowled in worry, making his way up to the teen to check on her. He hadn't even placed his hand on the blonde's forehead when he already felt the unhealthy heat radiating off of her. When he actually touched it, he found that Ed was burning up, with a high fever at that.

"You are ill," Cap stated as a matter fact.

"I have _nooo_ idea what gave it away…" Ed muttered into the blanket sarcastically.

"You are not doing any favors for yourself bundling up like that if you have a fever," Steve admonished.

"But I'm cooold," she whined which seemed so out of character for the fierce alchemist. She usually bore most unpleasantries with either explosive anger or steeled stoicism.

"I get it, but we need to get your body temperature _down_ , not up," he said, pulling the layers off of the girl.

"What the hell are you doing?" the blonde managed to rasp at a fairly loud voice to show her outrage.

"Trying to cool you down," Steve answered with equal exasperation.

"Leave me the fuck alone," Ed protested as she pulled one blanket back on herself, shivering like mad. She hated being fussed over. She could take care of herself, _thank you very much._

"Language!" Steve burst out at the young girl's foul mouth. He sighed heavily and decided to hunt down a thermometer instead of trying to fight the sick alchemist.

* * *

As he went back out to the living area, everyone looked up to him expectantly to bring news on what was going on with the youngest member of their team.

"She seems to have caught some bug," he shrugged. "Sick with a fever. Where do you keep the thermometers, Tony?"

"There should be one in the first aid kit in the medical bay one floor below. But you _know_ you can just have F.R.I.D.A.Y. scan her, right?" he informed him, although he thought Steve should know this by now. True, he was like _never_ the one actually needing the medical supplies among those in the group, maybe only for injuries. Well, not since he had become a super soldier.

"I know, but I prefer the traditional way," he said leaving the room.

* * *

While at the medical bay, the Captain also decided to get some fever reducers, cough syrup and anything else that the girl might need until she was better and made his way back to her room.

He found her huddled closer with the one blanket that he left on her, but at least she didn't try and get the ones back over herself that he had taken off.

"Leave me alone. I don't want to pass on my germs to you," she grumbled, muffled by the blanket without looking who it was.

"Open up," Steve instructed, ignoring her comment and leaving no room for refusal to his orders. Ed just gave him an "are-fucking-serious?" glare but complied anyway, shivering slightly at the cold touch of the end of the instrument. Somewhere along the way, her riddled fever brain registered that this didn't look anything like the thermometers at home but didn't have the energy to ask about it. Maybe she should have because then she wouldn't have been startled by surprise when it beeped loudly.

"Okay, this is no laughing matter. Your fever is a 103.9," he said in a bit of panic.

Ed had no idea what he meant, there was no way her body temperature would be above the boiling point of water. Although it did feel like she was kind of boiling. Just shivering while at it.

"You don't mean… Celsius degrees right?" she managed to get out in a daze.

"Uhm… no, Fahrenheit," Steve informed. "That's almost 40 degrees Celsius," he said after a quick head calculation.

"39.94 to be exact, Sir," the AI informed the both of them.

"Oh," that's all she could say to the news. _That_ was _pretty high…_

"Okay. Here, fever reducers, take them," the Captain went into command mode as he gave the pills and water to the blonde who took them without a word. "In the meantime, until these start taking effect, cooling bath for you."

As he said that he took the rest of the covers off and picked the blonde up in his arms bridal style.

"W-what the h-hell do you think you are doing?" she managed to stutter through her chattering teeth with enough force that it stopped Steve in his tracks.

"Like I said, cooling bath," he informed her, patient as ever. She did look dazed enough to be out of it. He did not want her to feel completely out of control and panic.

"Yeah, I heard that the first time too. But surely it isn't going to be _you_ who gives me one. I can do it _myself_ ," she stated stubbornly.

"And drown yourself with the weight of your auto-mail in the bathtub? Nice try," he said, continuing towards the bathroom with her.

"I'm not letting _you_ bathe me!" she exclaimed in a panicked voice trying to struggle out the man's hold. _Wow, even ill she can put up quite a fight…_ Finally, the root of the problem clicked for Steve too.

"Alright, alright…" Steve said as he set Ed down on the toilet lid in the bathroom and opened the faucet to start drawing a lukewarm bath. "I will get Tasha or Wanda to come help you."

The Captain began to leave the guest room but turned back suddenly with a warning tone. "Don't you dare try and do it yourself until one of them comes!"

Of course, Ed was… well… Ed… The moment the door closed behind the super soldier she tried to get up from her place to close the bathroom door too and undress. But as she tried to stand her legs gave out shakily, and she fell back on her original spot. She was out of breath from the effort it took and leaned into her hands to try and get herself together, relishing the cool feeling her right hand gave to her burning forehead.

* * *

As Steve trotted back into the open space area he could only find Nat from the two women, Wanda having wandered off somewhere. Also, Clint was in the kitchen busy making… chicken noodle soup it seemed. Stark just came into the room too and was surprised at Hawkeye's ministration.

"Wow, didn't take you for the perfect housewife, Barton!" he teased mischievously.

"You _do_ remember that I have three kids right?" the master archer retorted with no humor.

"Well, I would imagine that Laura takes care of them when ill…" Tony reasoned. "With you being on missions all the time."

"There _have_ been instances when I got to be there to take care of them…" he sulked while stirring the broth with a little bit too much force. He wished he could be there more often, but his job was what it was.

"Nat, could you please help with Ed? Her fever is a 103.9, and I personally can't give her a cooling bath… for obvious reasons," Steve asked frantic with worry, the same expression setting in on the other's faces too as they learned just how severe the blonde's fever was. "Also we need to find Banner. She needs a doctor, and I don't think getting a civilian for her would do much good. They would freak at the sight of her auto-mail."

"Have Stark call Fury, I'm sure he knows where Bruce is… just doesn't bother to inform _me_ …" Tasha fumed as she got off the couch. "It's not like he is doing anything at the moment anyway!" the Black Widow teased Iron Man with a pointed look.

"Hey!" Stark yelled after her indignantly, looking up from his tablet as she made her way towards Ed's room. "I do have… _stuff_ … that I'm doing!" but got his phone out of his pocket to dial anyway.

* * *

"Hey, sweetie…" Nat approached Ed cautiously, finding her sitting in the bathroom, hunched over as she entered the room. "Are you nauseous?"

Ed just shook her head at that not trusting her voice to speak.

"Okay, let's get this off of you," she said after closing the door and started to help Ed take off her T-shirt and sweats that she used as pajamas. Ed blushed although she couldn't explain why and was glad that the fever masked it. _This might be even worse than if Steve did it… She is not even my type… Just what the hell am I thinking about?... Dammit, fevered brain…_ – she rambled on mentally.

Tasha supported the weight of the now naked girl as she stood and got into the lukewarm bath. Ed gasped when the cool water touched her fevered skin but didn't protest against being lowered into it. Not physically at least. She just simply didn't have the energy to do it, but mentally she cursed at everything she could think of.

"What happened with your shoulder?" the assassin asked as she noted the puffiness of her skin around the metal port. Ed looked at it with surprise, but that did explain why her shoulder ached more than the rest of her body. At first, she had no idea what could have happened to it, but then it clicked.

"Damn you, Stark!" she muttered raspily as she remembered his none too gentle ministrations while equipping her with the new plates.

"What does he have to do with it?" Tasha asked, cocking one of her brows at the teen, but knowing the engineer, she wasn't all that surprised.

"He pulled some screws too tight at first when he was working on my auto-mail," Ed winced as she touched the tender area with her other hand.

"And then you went and over-exercised it when it should have been left to rest," the redhead concluded admonishingly.

Ed huffed at the notion that she was at fault for this but stayed silent otherwise. After ten minutes or so, the bath did seem to help some, so she tried to get out. Fortunately, Romanoff was supporting her because she wouldn't have been able to manage alone. The assassin helped the girl get back into bed then left the room.

"Definitely get Bruce," she said fiercely to Stark as she got back out. "She might also have an infection in her right shoulder thanks to you!"

* * *

Ed slept through most of the day. Only being woken by Steve to either drink some water to make sure she kept hydrated, take meds or eat the soup Clint had made for her but even then being mostly out of it. Her fever fluctuated back and forth depending on how much time had passed since her last meds, but it never really went under a 102.

Ed didn't know it yet, but at 11 PM the man everyone had been looking for finally showed up.

Placing his brown duffel bag on the floor, Bruce entered the living area, but no one was there. He took this moment of peace and quiet before inevitably the other Avengers would swarm him with a flurry of questions on why he disappeared after the battle with Ultron was finished, where he had been, what he had been doing. But he was anxious to see Natasha, he was hoping very much that what Fury told him wasn't true.

"Dr. Banner has arrived. He is waiting in the main living area," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice boomed in the areas where someone was staying at the moment.

After the announcement slowly everyone arrived, welcoming back their long gone comrade. Natasha was the last to enter since she didn't know how the man who sometimes turned into a big green raging monster would react to seeing her again.

"Nat! What are you doing up?" Bruce asked with surprise but was glad to see the redhead well enough to be up and about.

"What do you mean?" the Black Widow replied with an answer of her own in confusion.

"Fury told me that you were seriously ill and to come back to see you and to maybe try to find a cure," Banner explained with a scowl on his face.

"Well, he sure knows how to motivate you…" Tasha huffed as she uneasily shifted from one foot to the other.

"Did you put him up to this to see me again?" Banner asked her, suspiciously narrowing his eyes.

"No!" she insisted, which was actually the truth, but Bruce was already reaching for his bag on the floor to take his leave.

"Wait! There is someone who you need to check on though," the redhead stopped him in his tracks.

"Who?"

"The new girl, Edeline," when confusion was evident on Banner's face, the assassin added: "Didn't you get the memo?"

"I purposefully ignored all of Fury's other attempts to get in contact with me," he smiled shyly. "What's wrong with her?" the doctor in him finally winning out.

"Probably nothing too serious but there is a certain situation because of which we couldn't get just any doctor for her…" Nat started to explain the situation with Ed being from another dimension and her auto-mail, and the others later chimed in with… well, basically everything they learned so far.

* * *

Bruce entered the sick room quietly, thinking about what Natasha had just told him. He would never in a million years have thought that Fury would take on a 16-year-old girl to be an Avenger. Even if the circumstances were anything but ordinary.

"Hey," he greeted quietly when he saw that Ed was up.

"Hey," she mirrored in a sleepy, groggy voice as she inspected the dark-skinned man in front of her, who kind of reminded her of Ishvalans. Except for the eyes and hair of course.

"The others told me you weren't feeling too well," Banner explained his reason to be there.

"Are you a doctor or what?" Ed asked suspiciously.

"You could say that," Bruce chuckled. "Do you mind if I examine you?" he asked as he approached. "Don't worry, I know about everything," the doctor reassured her when she tensed up probably at the possibility that her auto-mail gets found out.

"You must be the Hulk then… though I have no idea why would they name you that," Ed stated as Bruce got a stethoscope and other instruments out.

"My name is Bruce Banner but yes sometimes the Hulk too," he answered after listening to the girl's heart and lungs. "How did you know?"

"They wouldn't tell the truth about me to an outsider, and from what the others were talking about earlier there are two people from the core team I haven't met yet, and somehow I doubt that you are the God of Thunder. Though I haven't figured out which one of you gets referred to as the 'Big Guy,'" Ed answered in a low-voice trying not to strain her throat too much.

"That would be me. Or well, the other guy inside of me. You are quite perceptive, aren't you?" he praised the young alchemist who could run down such a logical explanation even when her mind was clearly muddled by the fever.

"I just pay attention," she smirked knowingly, she finally found out who Natasha was into. "What do you mean by the other guy?"

"Well… sometimes I turn into a big green rampaging monster," he admitted and waited for the horrified expression of Ed that never came.

"Ha! I used to know someone like that," Ed laughed as she thought about Envy. When seeing Bruce's confused expression, she added: "A homunculus named Envy from my world. His true form was a huge lizard-like green monstrosity."

"Ah, yes, artificial humans, Steve told me about it. Open up for me please," Banner instructed.

"And how does this work, do you turn at will?" Ed asked after her throat was checked, curiosity getting the better of her, although in the back of her mind she wondered if it was rude to pry.

"Sometimes, but most of the time no. At the sign of danger or threat, or if he just gets angry, he takes over. Sort of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Bruce explained while checking Ed's lymph nodes, then when she looked perplexed, he continued. "Sorry, you wouldn't know that reference, it's a novel about a guy who has split personality due to his own experiments and they varyingly overtake his body with different outward appearances too, one is a good doctor, the other is an unscrupulous murdering maniac."

"How did you become like this?" the alchemist wondered, and she had no doubt some kind of experiment was behind it.

"I got a little too personal with gamma radiation," he stated in a grim tone, and Ed got the impression that this was the end of this line of questioning. "Okay it seems like just strep throat, but since your fever is so high I'm wondering if there is something else going on or your immune system is weakened. Do you usually get this sick?"

"No… the last time it was anything like this was when I was fourteen," she shuddered at the thought that that particular instance led up to Mustang finding out she was a girl.

"It could be that the pathogens in this world are slightly different than in yours and that's why your immune system is not fully equipped to handle it. May I see your shoulder too?" the doc asked finally remembering Tasha's other concern.

Ed pulled down the neck of her large shirt to expose her right shoulder. The doc gently examined the swollen tissue not even making Ed wince or flinch away in pain.

"I have a hard time believing your alter ego is a green monster with anger issues given your bedside manner," Ed muttered with skepticism.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Bruce smiled at the teen. "It doesn't seem infected just a little contusion around the bone where the auto-mail connects. Should heal by the time you are better if you let it rest. I'm going to give you an antibiotic for that as well though just to make sure," he said as he filled out the prescriptions that he was going to give to Steve or someone to get.

"Rest up and drink lots of fluids," he instructed with a kind smile as he left the room.

* * *

 **A/N: I have no idea what temperature scale Amestris would use. But given that it's supposed to be a mix country between Germany and Japan of our world, I'm guessing it would use Celsius. I didn't bother coming up with an alternate name for it though for Ed to call it.**

 **Sorry to all those who don't like sickfics but for me there is no good story without a little hurt/comfort angst :D**

 **To those wondering about the antibiotics, doctors write them up all the time where I come from without blood work or swab tests too, and btw from the way the throat looks, if lymph nodes are swollen, etc., experienced doctors can easily guess if it is a virus or bacterial infection, so please don't chew me out for the antibiotics prescription!**


	9. Involuntary Break Part II

**A/N: To those who are wondering about Ed's sexual orientation read my other fic called Change of Heart. But to answer it shortly: yes she is a lesbian but has not come to terms with it just yet at this point in time. She is 16, it's hard to come to terms with these things when you are just a regular high schooler, let alone if all you have been doing in the last 4 years is fight and search for a way to get your brother back to normal.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 9: Involuntary Break Part II**_

* * *

Another three days later the alchemist was already feeling much better, although not a 100% yet for sure. Her fever at least stayed in a more manageable zone around 100-101 after the antibiotics started kicking in.

Having become utterly sick of the room that she was forced to stay in for the last more than 72 hours, she decided to wander out into the living room wrapped in a blanket to see what the others were up to.

Never in a million years would she have thought to find them watching… well, Fullmetal Alchemist. As she snuck up behind the couch to see what everyone but Wanda – who she actually hadn't seen in the past two days – was so focused on that sounded like anything but English, she recognized it in an instant from a few frames with her trademark outfit and hair that her characterization wore also.

"Are you serious? Did Wanda put you guys up to this?" she groaned with horror and embarrassment settling in on her face, making the others jump in surprise and guilt for getting caught as they were too engrossed in the show to hear her come in.

"No… it was actually our own idea," Clint confessed. "Please don't hate us… We just wanted to get to know you better."

"You should have asked me instead of snooping on my life behind my back," Ed tried to sound as authoritative and forceful as she could manage with her still raw throat.

"Sorry… We already binge-watched Brotherhood in the last two days," Tasha answered this time. "Just started the original adaptation. Wanna come watch?"

"Why would you even bother watching something that wasn't even the real account of my life?" Ed grumbled as she leaned on the back of the couch between them.

"Wanda said it had more emotion to it…" Steve looked at her apologetically. They hadn't paused the video, and it was just coming to the end of episode 2, in which the alchemist recognized they were in Liore. Then suddenly the soundtrack caught her ears, and she froze in her place.

"That song…" she whispered as she stared in front of herself. "That is the song we wrote with Al during my auto-mail recovery… the language is different, but I would recognize it anywhere. How?" she asked shakily.

"Guess the same way your life story ended up as a manga?" Stark suggested.

"They did a beautiful job with it," the blonde managed to say finally, a tear escaping her eyes as the video continued with scenes of she and Al transmuting little animal figurines for their mother.

Out of morbid curiosity, she decided to plop down on the couch with them to watch this alternate version of her life. She didn't really have anything else going on anyway and _was_ bored out of her mind with her still being sick. Although she got angry with the anime quickly enough and kept interjecting, saying things like that _didn't_ happen, that isn't _how_ it happened, or that's not _when_ that happened at different parts and scenes. She couldn't sit through Episode 6 though… no matter how screwed up the timeline was there was no way she could relive Nina getting turned into a chimera with Alexander then ultimately get killed by Scar. So she got up and left telling them to get her when that part was over.

Edeline went out on the balcony to get some fresh air and ended up staying there for almost an hour. Somehow looking over the city became a habit of hers when her mind wandered into darker territories. There was something calming for her in watching the bustling city full of life from up here where it almost seemed like the whole thing was miles away. Steve managed to find her still sitting there cross-legged with her blanket wrapped around her.

"Are you crazy?" he admonished. "You are still ill, come back inside!"

Ed got up with a heavy sigh and walked back in.

"Is it over?" the alchemist inquired as she passed the blond man.

"Yes… Do you want to talk about it?" he asked when he saw her grief-stricken expression.

"No," she shook her head decisively. "I'm fine," Ed had come to terms with this a long time ago and just didn't see the point in rehashing it.

They went back inside without another word and kept watching the anime for a few more episodes until Ed fell asleep on Steve's shoulder with her mouth hanging open and snoring lightly. Neither of them would admit it out loud but they – yes, every single one of them – had become quite fond of the little alchemist, especially after learning the full extent of the things she had to endure during her not so long life. So no one had the heart to wake the blonde up by taking her back to her room.

That is until Wanda burst into the room with her hands full of books, some of which she managed to drop with a loud bang causing Ed to wake up with a start.

"What happened?" the blonde looked around in confusion then noticing the source of the ruckus.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," the witch apologized as she fumbled with the books at her feet.

"Where did you get all those?" Stark questioned with surprise. The Tower didn't hold too many books with the engineer being more of a modern solutions advocate. They did have like a hundred laptops, tablets and smartphones lying around though in different parts and areas that all had internet access and different library apps on them.

"Are those alchemy books?" Ed inquired when she recognized the symbols on some of the books' covers.

"Yeah, I figured since you are stuck in here, I would go out to all the different library branches and dig some books up that might be useful. But man, it was hard to read through these to see if they are rubbish or not! It took me a couple of days… and I'm still not sure if I got the right ones," she rambled on as she managed to stack the scattered books together.

"So that's where you've been!" Ed laughed in relief. She was beginning to think the brunette was avoiding her for some reason. "That's really nice of you," the blonde shared her appreciation as she got up to help her.

"No, no, no, it's fine I got this!" the witch said as she stood up with the stack in her hands again although it seemed like she was going to drop them again any second. Ed shook her head in disapproval and took the top few books off anyway inspecting them more closely.

"I thought some of these were non-borrowable, in-library read only…" Ed mused reading the titles, some of which she had encountered already at least in the catalog, if not read previously.

"I've got some tricks up my sleeve!" the Scarlet witch smiled mischievously, insinuating that she got into the librarian's head to let her take the books out. Just out of precaution she set them down on the table before she managed to drop them again. Mind control or not they would kill her if the rare books got damaged in any way.

"Wanda… I thought we are only using our powers for the greater good," Ed admonished with a shake of her head, but she was thoroughly amused by the brunette's antics.

"It _was_ for the greater good…" she pouted, puffing her cheeks a little. "I am protecting the whole City of New York from a certain little alchemist going ballistic out of boredom!" the witch blurted out then slammed her hands on her mouth when she realized that she had just called Ed little.

"Who do you think you are calling little?" Ed asked with an ominously calm voice, but the twitching of her brow and her fist clenching around the book she was holding was telling a completely different story. "CAN A SHORTY DO THIS, HUH?" the blonde yelled as she started chasing the witch in circles around the living area trying to smack her on the top of her head with the book she was holding. Needless to say, she completely forgot her teasing comeback about Wanda maybe wanting to use her powers to carry the books too to avoid dropping them.

"I think she is feeling better," Natasha commented with wide-eyed amusement at the two girls who ran around like preschoolers.

"Yup, definitely," Steve nodded with a similar smirk on his face.

* * *

The alchemist was back in her room – busy reading for hours on end by now – which didn't come as a surprise to any of the Avengers.

What did surprise them was when suddenly there was a tap on the glass wall on the 90th floor. The source of the noise was a guy in red-blue tights and mask, sitting in a crouch waiting for someone to let him in.

"Yo!" Spider-Man greeted, waving slightly with one of his hands when Stark opened it for him. "Is Edeline in?"

* * *

There was a knock on Ed's door. She was too engrossed in one of the many books lying around her on the bed to notice or answer. But of course, the knock came again, more insistent this time.

"Come in!" she called out, not bothering to look up who came in.

"Wow, you really _are_ into books," the masked young man commented without a greeting, leaning casually against the doorframe with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Hey, Spidey, what are you doing here?" Ed asked in surprise, but there were more questions where that came from. "Who let you in? Do they _know_ you are here or the alarm is going to go off any second now?"

"Oh, they know don't worry. Gave them a little shock though… I came in through the balcony," Spider-Man smirked under his mask.

"I bet… It's not every day that you see someone enter through the window essentially, and on the 90th floor at that. Although I guess Stark does that too…" Ed chuckled as she made some room on her bed since at the moment every inch of it was covered by books or her.

"Sooo… what made you visit me?" the alchemist questioned as she motioned for him to sit down on her bed.

"I didn't see you around. So came to check up on you," he said nonchalantly as he shot a webbing to the ceiling and lowered himself on Ed's bed on the offered spot.

"Did you expect me to get almost mugged again to come save me?" Ed asked with a scowl. _I'm not a damsel in distress dammit!_

"No… just didn't see you coming out of the library around closing time for a few days," the boy admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Are you following me?" the blonde asked raising her brow at the spider.

"No, I keep watch on the city anyway, I noticed you by accident on the first night, then checked back on the second if it was a habit. Then you didn't show for the next three… I was worried," he blushed, but of course, Ed didn't see that with his disguise.

"I was sick," Ed stated as a matter of fact.

"Yes, I heard. My guess is you still are given how pale you look," Spidey commented with a hint of teasing.

"Nah, I'm fine," she tried to wave his concerns off.

"Miss Ed, your fever is still a 100.2," came the robotic voice from the ceiling making Ed jump but somehow it didn't even faze the other teen.

"God, F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Don't do that!" she panted looking up. Seriously, it got her every time.

"Who is F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" Spidey asked curiously.

"The AI that runs the building. Apparently, it can even scan me and tell all my vital signs…" Ed explained rolling her eyes.

"Sounds handy," Spider-Man enthused.

"More like annoying," the blonde huffed.

"Sooo… what's all this?" he asked picking up a book. "Alchemy?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for a clue as to what I could use as toll at the Gate to get back to Amestris," the alchemist sighed heavily.

"It's a shame giving up alchemy for Al didn't work, it seemed like a well thought out plan."

"It was, but Truth had other plans I guess… I just have to make do with what I have… although I'm starting to get the feeling that alchemy is not the answer," Ed commented glancing at the pile beside her.

"How come?" Spider-Man questioned following her gaze.

"Well… how should I put this nicely… your world absolutely _sucks_ at alchemy… there is literally nothing I can go on based on the books you have. I have known everything that's in these ones for a long time already. And it all seems like just theory, I don't get the feeling from these accounts that any of them were _actually_ able to perform alchemy," she paused for a few moments to think.

"In all truth… how am _I_ even able to do alchemy here? Alchemists channel the tectonic energy of the planet, but I am not familiar with this world – not consciously at least. We already established that its mass and gravity are different from back home so the inner tectonic layers must be different too. How can I still be able to draw on it?" the alchemist rambled on as she dug through some of the books and notes.

"Truth must have taken my arm back as payment for the knowledge of this world's tectonic structure," the blonde finally came to the conclusion then realized that Spidey was still sitting there, being completely left out. "But let's not talk about this, I must be boring you to death."

"Not at all, it's kind of fun to see the inner workings of the mind of a genius," he chuckled making Ed self-conscious.

"Shut up," she smiled shyly looking away then remembered something. "I was meaning to ask ever since we met, what can you do besides shooting and swinging on weird white goo from your wrists?"

"Let's see: strength proportional to a spider if it were my size, healing factor, enhanced reflexes and balance, I can cling to most surfaces, and I can subconsciously sense danger. I call it the 'spidey-sense,'" Spider-Man listed them counting on his fingers if he had gotten them all.

"How are you able to do all this?" Ed inquired incredulously.

"Uhm… I was bitten by a radioactive spider a few years back," the boy laughed nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Radioactive? That seems like the answer to almost anything these days. Banner can turn into the Hulk because of gamma radiation too," the girl started listing.

"The Fantastic Four became how they are by exposure to cosmic radiation also," Spidey added.

"Again with these names! Who the hell comes up with these?!" Ed threw her hand in the air in frustration. "Anyway, I'm starting to think I need to look at the modern sciences angle instead of alchemy," the alchemist declared with that unmistakable determination shining her eyes again and a wide grin on her face that only appeared when she had an idea.

* * *

 **A/N: Yes, the song was Bratja by BEDA and Ooshima Michiru, in my Change of Heart fic I did a piece on it in one of the chapters. It's a headcanon of mine that this song was written by the siblings themselves. FYI all my fem!Ed stories are one AU so there are mentions that could only be understood if you have read the other fics. I'll try and mention them in notes if it comes up.**


	10. Doppelgangers everywhere

_**Chapter 10: Doppelgangers everywhere**_

* * *

 _A few days later…_

A vein popped on Ed's forehead, while simultaneously her left brow kept twitching from the effort of trying to rein her temper in. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest, signaling everyone and anyone who dared to approach her to back the fuck off.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?" she screamed out finally, throwing her gaze upon the ceiling – which by the way was very high up given that they were in a big convention hall – and clawing at the side of her head with her white-gloved hands.

"Quit being so melodramatic, you fit right in," Wanda commented flatly as they stood in the middle of a sea of people going left and right. The blond alchemist shot her a murderous glare.

"Tell me again, why do I have to be here?" Ed hissed through her gritted teeth as she eyed the people who went past her. Many of them were in weird clothes, trying to dress up as people from their favorite shows. Some did better jobs at it than others.

"Because you are my friend and I like anime cons, so you came with me," the Scarlet Witch chirped in a sickly sweet tone. She was, in fact, cosplaying too, although from something entirely different, Soul… something… Ed couldn't quite catch the name of the anime earlier, but it didn't really matter to her anyway. Wanda was wearing an ash-blond wig with ponytails, a plaid skirt, and a long black jacket. She even brought a plastic red-black-silver scythe of some sort with her.

"I can see that since you had no problem dragging me all the way to Washington State for it," Ed sulked further.

"Oh, shut it. Sakura-Con is one of the biggest conventions, it's worth the time and money," the naturally brunette commented without looking up from her program leaflet.

"Yeah right… maybe for you…" the smaller girl sighed. "And it's not like it's your money anyway…" she continued muttering under her breath. _At the bottom line, S.H.I.E.L.D. is paying for this since there is no way in hell Stark will just gladly accept that he just flew two girls to Seattle on his private jet for no apparent reason on his expense. Not to mention the cost of the hotel room… and the convention entry tickets…_ – she thought to herself.

Looking around she had to admit though that Wanda was right… she didn't stand out, not one bit. At first, Ed had no idea what Wanda wanted to achieve when she insisted that the alchemist wore her usual clothes from Amestris that morning. Now she understood all too well.

The amount of Edward Elric cosplay was just too much to handle… The funny thing was that there weren't just guys, but girls dressing up like her too. Maybe the fans somehow intuitively knew what Arakawa didn't or it's just a plain coincidence or a mere convenience for the girls, not wanting to mask themselves as boys just to cosplay as their favorite male anime character. Anyhow, Edeline was merely one of the many Eds walking around. And it was seriously creeping her out.

"Wanda…" the blonde glanced to her side. "What's with all the doppelgangers? Am I really that popular?"

"Well yeah… Fullmetal Alchemist is still a big hit, but there is also an FMA related cosplay contest, so that explains the more than usual abundance of red coats and golden hair…" the witch shrugged then squealed suddenly when she spotted something in the program. "Oh my God, Vic Mignogna is here too, and he will have a concert tonight! WE HAVE TO GO!" she stared at the alchemist intensely.

"Uhm… who the hell is that?" Ed asked unsurely while making a face at her friend.

As they talked some people turned around to stare at her as they walked past, but the blond girl wasn't sure what the reason was behind this. It's not like there weren't like a hundred other people in the same outfit. Then it hit her. Even if some of those people went as far as putting in gold contact lenses they didn't quite get that same bright molten hue that was her own. _Damn you Wanda for insisting on me_ not _putting in my contacts that were meant to_ obscure _the real color of them…_

In order to remain inconspicuous when out and about, she had been going by her fake persona: Edeline Krueger, an orphaned child prodigy from Germany (since her not so native English accent was sort of similar to the way Germans spoke the language). She even started wearing translucent blue contact lenses when she went outside the Tower to change the golden hue of her irises to green which was much more natural in this world and drew less attention.

"What?" the brunette yelled out, drawing attention to them, then continued in a whisper. "He is the guy who voiced you in the English dubbed version of both anime."

Ed didn't even know how to respond to that. It was evident that this voice actor meant a lot to Wanda for some reason or another, but the blonde had absolutely no idea what the hype was all about. I mean, he was just a guy who happened to lend his voice to her character in an anime. On the other hand, the witch had the real thing standing right beside her. Wasn't that a much bigger deal?

"Fine, if you want to go we will see his concert, geez," the alchemist rolled her eyes.

"Awesome!" the Scarlet Witch rejoiced, then grabbed her friend by the hand and started dragging her further in. "And _now_ we are going to the FMA voice actors' panel."

Ed just gazed at the ceiling in desperation. _This is my personal hell designed specifically for me, right?_

* * *

They got there kind of late, so the room was mostly full. Ed just decided to lean against the wall on the right side, while Wanda crept up almost to the front.

"Wow, what a turnout!" a very kind looking redhead, who was sitting at a long table on stage, announced excitedly into the microphone. "Fullmetal Alchemist is still pretty popular, isn't it?"

The crowd cheered in agreement.

"Well, you probably know us by now, but we are going to introduce ourselves anyway. I'm Caitlin Glass, I voiced Winry," the redhead introduced herself then glanced to her left to prompt the person sitting there to introduce themselves too.

"Travis Willingham. Played none other than Colonel Roy Mustang," a black-haired dude announced. Many people cheered and hollered at this. Obviously, Roy was popular. _Go figure…_ – Ed thought with a roll of her eyes.

"Maxey Whitehead. I was the voice of…" another redhead introduced herself then picked up an empty metal pitcher that seemed to have been placed there just for her and continued to speak into it. "Alphonse Elric in the Brotherhood series," the metallic echo of her voice made Ed freeze for a moment as it sounded exactly like her brother when he was still that suit of armor.

Maxey was good, the alchemist had to admit. She would have believed without hesitation that the woman was a young boy, despite being obviously the opposite gender.

"We are actually stalling for a bit since our main star is running a little behind schedule," Caitlin chuckled a bit, taking over again. As if right on cue, a blond man came in from the side door on the left, running up to the stage and taking the last place at the table.

"Sorry guys, I was held up at the autograph table," he explained then turned with enthusiasm to the crowd. "Hi, guys! I'm Vic Mignogna. I played Edward Elric."

He seemed like a real goofball to Ed, but somehow his cheerful personality just seemed infectious, and she couldn't help but smile a bit. Much to Ed's pleasure the noise level went up quite a bit higher than with that Travis guy who voiced Roy.

"Sooo…" the girl that played Winry seemed like she was appointed as some sort of moderator for the panel. "We are going to do this like we usually do. We will talk about what you guys want to talk about. There is a mic set up in the middle row, so if you have a question…" many people already stood up and started forming a line behind the mic. _Wanda too!_ Now Ed understood why she crept up to the front so that she could easily get in line. Ed just stayed where she was. "Just come up to it and ask away, stating your name and who you want to answer the question."

Most of the questions were silly little things or line requests from the anime – some of which incidentally made Ed laugh out loud, and some made her mad at the same time, like the short rant requests. There were also questions about how they got into voice acting, advice they had for people wanting to get into it. And then there were the more substantial questions.

"Do you know the effect you had on people's lives with this role?" came the inquiry directed at Vic from a girl dressed up as probably Winry with that tiny black tube top, mechanic scrubs with the arms of it tied around her waist and a red bandana on her head.

"When I get that question I always say it isn't really me who is having the effect, rather the character, in this case: Ed," he replied contemplatively. "I just happened to be lucky enough to be the mediator for it. But let me answer with one of my favorite fan encounters. A few years back a girl came up to me at a con just like this after the autograph session, and we had a little chat about Ed and how she identified with him, how he helped her get through one of the most difficult periods of her life. At first, I couldn't really imagine what exactly a twenty-something-year-old, soft-spoken girl found in common with a short, teenaged boy with a temper…"

 _I will soon show you that temper if you call me short again!_ – Ed thought at that.

"… but then she pulled up the leg of her pants and showed me her prosthetic leg. Apparently, she had lost it in a car accident and had a tough time coming to terms with it. Then a friend of hers suggested that she should watch Fullmetal Alchemist. And she found strength in how Ed came over his own obstacles and achieved his goals. But there are many other very valuable life lessons in this anime. The importance and beauty of brotherly love and friendships and courage. Owning up to our mistakes and doing everything to make them right. So to answer your question shortly, yes I know about the impact these stories have, and it has been an honor to be part of that journey."

Ed was basically in tears by the end of that speech. She honestly never would have thought this was anything but entertainment to people and it had been seriously bugging her up until that point. Now she didn't mind so much anymore that people knew her story if it helped them in any way.

Fortunately, the next question changed the mood in the room to a more joyful one. Apparently, there is a short parody or sketch on the internet or something about the series in which when Hughes calls Roy before he dies he gets his voicemail. Travis was asked to perform the rap from that voicemail again.

 _Oh,_ _snap, snap! Spark, spark!_

 _It's time to light up the diggy-diggy-dark!_

 _I'm the Flame Alchemist, and I'm gonna be Fuhrer_

 _My beats are hot, and my rhyme's on fire!_

 _I like the ladies in the miniskirts_

 _I'll be posing in the mirror without my fancy shirts_

 _I'm gonna set your heart on fire, whoosh, whoosh!_

 _And you know my heart burns bright too! Kaboom, kaboom!_

 _My firepower tonight is feeling just right, kablam kablam!_

Everyone was cracking up in the audience, including Ed, who was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach. Fired up by this the next girl in line asked Travis to do the miniskirt line from the anime.

"That day all female officers will be required to wear… TINY MINISKIRTS!" Travis played his line with the seriousness it required, but it just made it all that funnier. Ed was crying now from the laughing. She could just imagine Roy saying something like that. And somehow this was much funnier than when they watched the anime with everyone at the Tower. She couldn't understand the Japanese voice and just reading the subtitles didn't quite provide this level of hilarity.

A few people later it was Wanda's turn. When Vic saw her and her cosplay his face lit up and yelled at her with a finger pointed at her.

"MAKA!" Ed guessed this must have been a reference to the anime her cosplay was from, and naturally, he had voiced someone from that one too.

"Shut up, dad!" the brunette – now ash-blonde – screamed back with a huge grin as she played along.

"Sorry from those who cannot see her or know the anime, but this lovely girl is cosplaying as Maka from Soul Eater, and I voiced her dad, who was this pervy guy whom his daughter absolutely hated. Whenever he saw her, he would yell her name out at her longingly," Vic explained. "Sorry, what was your question, sweetie?"

"I was wondering, what are your thoughts on what the anime/manga would be like if Edward was actually a girl?" Wanda inquired oh so innocently, stealing a little glance at Ed.

 _What the hell are you playing at?_ – Ed groaned to herself. – _Are you trying to get me found out?_

But the question seemed to have formed at one point or another in many other fans' heads too as the crowd hummed in agreement at wanting to know.

"I mean if she was a girl but had to pretend to be a boy to be a State Alchemist. We never saw female State Alchemists in the anime or manga…" the Scarlet Witch clarified.

"That's an interesting idea…" Vic hummed and contemplated the question for a second. "Actually, I don't really think it would have made much of a difference. Maybe his, I mean her relationship with Winry would have been different, we might have gotten a different happy ending, instead of Ed proposing to Winry at Resembool station as he leaves to travel to the west, it might have been Al or something else entirely. But the character's essence would have been the same regardless. I mean he did have long blond hair that he wore in a braid! It's no surprise really that the fans get the idea of him actually being a girl. And why shouldn't they, the character would be just as badass, if not even more. Many girls are cosplaying as Ed here today too, some even better than their male counterparts. I probably wouldn't have gotten to voice Ed then, but oh well. Did you guys know that the Japanese voice actor for Ed is a woman, right? Romi Park?"

Most of the fans yelled some form of acknowledgment that they knew. Ed was a bit speechless. She purposefully didn't read the end of the manga, so she never knew that her male self actually proposed to Winry. She had always loved her, she never denied it, but was it more than just as a sister, as family? The rest of the monologue didn't even register with her.

Wanda made her way back next to the alchemist as the next question was being asked. Ed punched her in the shoulder as soon as she got there.

"Hey, what was that for?" the witch inquired indignantly from the blonde.

"You know that full well," Ed hissed at her and dragged her out of the panel.

* * *

The concert seemed like a big hit among the fans. The hall they set up for it was jam-packed. Wanda somehow managed to get them all the way to the front. Edeline had never been to anything like this before. Even though music was a big part of her life, it was very much a private thing for her. It was something she and her brother shared, something that helped them to get through the hard days. They always sang for themselves though, they never really listened to other artists' songs.

The concert was a pleasant surprise to Ed. Vic sang all sorts of songs from anime he dubbed and made English versions for some the openings and songs in them. He showed something called Fullmetal Fantasy to them, which was a hilarious, goofy silliness that the voice actors did together, cosplaying as their characters from the anime. He performed his English version to Brothers too. Given that Ed was already familiar with the anime version of it, it didn't hit her so hard like it did the first time. That song would always be close to her heart that was for sure.

"The next song is another favorite of mine. It's called 'Nothing I Won't Give.' I wrote it as a sort of character song for Ed. I hope you will enjoy it," Vic conferred his next performance.

Ed wasn't prepared for what was about to hit her.

 _Haunted by the past_

 _A nightmare that seemed so unreal_

 _I wish that I could turn back time_

 _And spare the pain that we both feel_

 _And now we've changed_

 _Things will never be the same_

 _(Things will never be the same)_

As the song gained momentum, the alchemist felt it connecting to something deep inside her.

 _We were foolish then_

 _But our trials served to make us strong_

 _The burdens are not yours alone_

 _We've sought the answers for so long_

 _But they're not free_

 _They cost you more than they cost me_

 _(My brother)_

Ed was frozen in place by the emotions bubbling up in her. Tears started down her face at the truthfulness of the lines.

 _I promise you, there is nothing I won't give_

 _To see this through_

 _Return the soul to where it lives_

 _I promise you, I'd go everywhere I've been_

 _To find a way to make atonement for my sin and see_

 _See your smiling face again_

It was as if this person saw right into her soul and took the words right out of there.

 _When we've paid the price at last_

 _And we are whole once more_

 _Life will be the way it was_

 _The way it was before the day_

 _She slipped away_

 _Together we'll redeem that day_

.

 _And I promise you, there is nothing I won't give_

 _To see this through_

 _Return the soul to where it lives_

 _I promise you, I'd go everywhere I've been_

 _To find a way to make atonement for my sin and see_

 _See your smiling face again_

The song wasn't quite finished yet, but Ed couldn't stay there one more minute longer. She couldn't recall the last time something made her this emotional. Pushing through the crowd to the side of the room to get out, she fought to keep her breathing somewhat steady as to not hyperventilate. Once in the corridor, she ran at full speed to an exit to get fresh air.

There really was nothing she wouldn't give for her brother. She even came to this world, and she would go to a thousand more if it meant that her brother had his body back and the grave mistake she made all those years ago was set right. Nothing else mattered. But she wanted to see his smiling face again so badly.

She was outright bawling as she leaned on the railing that fenced the entrance area of the convention center. She must have looked like a complete and utter mess. The coolness of the early April air helped a bit though.

A few minutes later she heard her name being called from behind her. Wanda came running out through the doors, looking disheveled and out of breath.

"There you are, Ed!" she sighed in relief when she spotted the blonde. The witch walked up to her friend with concern and pity in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I should have known he was going to sign that song. I should have prepared you, at least shown it to you on YouTube or something beforehand," the brunette apologized as she took off her ash-blond wig that was a bit askew on her head anyway.

The blond alchemist couldn't quite formulate a response yet, her breathing was still hitching from the crying.

"Let's just call it a day and go back to the hotel okay?" Wanda suggested, and Ed nodded in agreement, letting her friend guide her since her sight was still blurry from the tears.

* * *

The next day Ed felt really silly for her initial reaction. She managed to listen to the song on YouTube again in the morning and now that she didn't go into emotional overdrive she found it really lovely, and quite honestly would have wanted to share it with Al. Ed knew what his reaction would be. He would proclaim to do the same for her too and insist that it was both of their sins, not just hers. The blond alchemist always felt more responsible for it though. It was initially her idea to bring their mom back, and although Al didn't protest, even if he did and hadn't helped, she would have found a way to do it. But she probably would have died then…

Taking a big breath and slapping her cheeks together Ed chased the gloomy thoughts from her head. It was all in the past now, Al was whole again, and she just had to find a way back to him.

Wanda was still sleeping on the other bed. Edeline couldn't wait for breakfast anymore though. She was _starving_. Having a near emotional breakdown really takes a lot out of you. The blonde took a piece of paper from the pad next to the phone and left a note for the brunette, then dressed and left to hunt down some breakfast.

She found a little café that served baked goods and bought herself a coffee and a bagel. Ed remembered as she sat down that she had a book in her coat pocket that she put there to have something to read if this little adventure Wanda had thought out turned out to be a bummer. Perking up at the revelation she whipped the book out and began to read over her breakfast.

A tall man with black hair with white streaks just above his temples and a goatee entered the coffee house. He seemed to have been looking for someone in particular, and when his eyes landed on the blond girl in the red coat, he purposefully strode over to her table.

Truthfully, he had come all this way from New York just to meet her. He knew full well that back home he couldn't have been able to approach her inconspicuously. Her friends at S.H.I.E.L.D. just had too many eyes in the city, and she was rarely alone, always hanging out with one of her hero buddies. But he had a message to deliver to her that was only meant for her ears.

"Ms. Elric, I'd like to speak with you in private," the man began, making Edeline freeze in her place but she didn't look up yet. Instead, she glanced to the side if anyone took an interest in their conversation given the name the man had just called her by. _Who was this man and how did he know who I was? More importantly, why was he insistent on blowing my cover?_ They were awfully close to the convention hall, and that was the only reason Ed didn't stand out in her regular clothes. Cosplayers were walking up and down the street, waiting for the day's events to officially start in the morning. But this was _precisely_ why it was so annoying that he had called her that. There could be FMA fans anywhere, who would undoubtedly take an interest in someone with the last name of Elric.

"Thanks for the flattery, I never thought my cosplay would be so good someone would actually take me for the character," Ed laughed out nervously, but her eyes that glared at the man told a whole different story. If looks could kill…

"Ah, yes right, you go by Edeline Krueger these days," he said nonchalantly. When he saw that Ed made no move to get up to leave and talk in private, he took a seat across from her, crossing his legs and placing a hand on his knee.

 _What the actual fuck?_ This man knew exactly who she was. Knew of her cover identity, but still called her by her real name. And he seemed like he had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to find her alone to approach her too. Everything about this situation screamed at her for being suspicious and shady. She took another good look at him. He looked like an average businessman in a tailored suit, around 40-45 given the white streaks of hair. The only strange thing about him was the round pendant with the eye motif that he wore instead of a tie.

"Are you stalking me or something?" she asked with venom as she turned her gaze back to her book.

"I apologize, but it was imperative that I find you alone to talk to you. Perhaps we could take this somewhere with fewer people?" he continued, still not taking his eyes off of Ed. _Creepy as hell!_

"Sorry, my mom always told me not to talk to strangers. Please leave," Ed tried to brush him off as civilly as she could. She didn't want to make a scene here with all these people.

"It's funny you should say that," a slight smile was tugging at the man's lips as if he was enjoying a private joke. He took a better look at the book Ed was holding. "Interesting choice of topic. Alchemy that is," of course, he knew exactly why Ed had an alchemy book, but he wanted to get some kind of a rise out of her to get her attention back and possibly to leave the café with him.

"Just goes with my character," she deflected quickly, without even looking up. Given her military training, she saw right through him. She just had to play this cool, and maybe he will give up and leave her alone.

"The thing is, you are looking in the wrong direction," it was obvious that Ed was not going to make this easy for him, so he decided to give a hint to her right here and now. "What you need is…" he glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Something more magical."

Ed couldn't help but snort at that. Actually, it took all her willpower not to laugh out loud. She was lucky she wasn't drinking her coffee at this moment because she would have chocked on it. Having had enough of the man's shenanigans, she closed her book with a loud clap and stood up to leave. As she walked past him, he grabbed her arm.

"If you change your mind come find me," he said earnestly, handing her a card. When Ed didn't take it, he slipped it into her coat pocket.

"Get your hand off of me," the blonde hissed quietly but threateningly as she glared at him and his hand. The man released her at once. She strode to the exit with long hurried steps and disappeared into the street.

* * *

Once she felt that she had put enough distance between herself and the strange man, Ed fished the card out of her pocket. It had a New York address on it. And nothing else. No name or anything whatsoever. _He_ was _stalking me!_ Disgusted by the whole thing she threw the card out in the first trash can that came her way.

The alchemist was relieved immensely when she finally made it back to the hotel. She didn't know why she felt so threatened by that person. Normally she would be able to take on any weirdo who might have tried to hurt her, be it mugging, rape or kidnapping attempt. But this man… he had sent chills up and down her spine. For some reason, she believed that he could have overpowered her if he had wanted to.

And he didn't, so that ought to count for something. He didn't try to force himself on her with anything else than words when she obviously wanted none of it. It even seemed like he wanted to help her, but the whole situation was just so whacky that she wanted nothing to do with him. If she never saw him again, it would still be too soon. And there was no way in hell she was ever going to say anything about this to anyone because knowing Steve he would never let her out of the Tower alone ever again if he heard.

With these final thoughts, Ed pushed the whole thing behind her as she entered their hotel room where she found that Wanda was still sleeping.

"Hey, sleepyhead, if you want to make it to the announcement of the results of the cosplay contest you have to get up now," Ed nudged the slightly drooling brunette.

"I'm up, I'm up," she mumbled as she literally rolled out of bed right on the floor, then groaned in pain.

"You are _not_ a morning person, are you?" the blonde shook her head with a smirk on her face at the revelation.

"Shut up," Wanda muttered into the carpet.

By some miracle they were on their way to the convention hall twenty minutes later, the witch stuffing a croissant into her mouth as she tried to get her long, black, Maka coat on. They made it there right before the beginning of the ceremony.

Neither of them entered the contest given that the trip was a spur of a moment decision on Wanda's part, and it required an online registration beforehand, but the Scarlet Witch wanted to see which cosplays were deemed the best.

As Ed looked around, she noticed two adorable cosplayers. A woman and a two-year-old, obviously mother and son, dressed up as Riza and Roy in their military uniforms. She pocked Wanda in the ribs and pointed them out to her too.

"Awwww," was the only response the brunette was able to come up with at that.

The contest rewards were being handed out in the meanwhile. When they finally finished, the person conferring made an announcement.

"We got a lot of questions about a certain cosplayer, some of them even making demands that she was to win the Edward Elric section because they thought her cosplay was so good that it might as well have been the real thing. We asked some of you to point her out to us so that we could find out who this mystery cosplayer was. Unfortunately, we found out that she never registered for the contest. But as an obvious fan favorite, we decided to prepare a people's choice award for her. So if you are here, Edeline Krueger, please come up to the stage."

Ed stood there like a deer caught in the headlights. Wanda squealed with joy beside her so loudly that many people turned toward their direction. The blond alchemist made no move to go up to the stage, but the people before her parted, obviously some of them being the people making the demands and recognizing her. Wanda pushed her so hard that she stumbled a bit but then grudgingly started walking forward.

The blond alchemist stomped up on the steps leading up to the stage. She hurried up to the guy, shook his hand, took the award certificate then she was out of there like a bat out of hell.

Wanda was waiting for her at the side, giggling at her like a school girl. She dragged Ed off to a hallway where there were fewer people.

"Not funny," Ed pointed out with annoyance.

"You should have heard what the people were whispering, why they thought your 'cosplay' was perfect," the witch grinned again. "Believe me, it is funny."

"I have a feeling I really don't want to know," Ed groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Congratulations. Very nice cosplay," a familiar voice came up behind them. As they turned around, they saw that it was Vic Mignogna. It seemed that he had been watching the ceremony too.

"Uhm… thanks," Ed muttered. "Though I really didn't do anything, I wake up like this in the morning," she added almost inaudibly.

"I remember you!" he turned to Wanda suddenly. "You asked yesterday about what if Edward was a girl, right?"

"Good memory," the brunette was impressed.

"I could never forget a good Maka cosplay," Vic joked with a laugh. "You guys are here together?"

"Yeah, my name is Wanda by the way, and this is Edeline, but she likes to be called just Ed," the witch introduced them. The alchemist threw her a glare.

"Nice to meet you, girls," he said with a smile.

"Good concert last night," Wanda praised, although Ed wasn't sure why she was trying so hard to keep the conversation going.

"Thanks, that's sweet of you," he then glanced at Ed. "Now that I think about it, weren't you the one who ran out of the concert mid-song from the first row?"

"Sorry, it got a bit emotional for me," Ed shrugged, trying not to relive the moment and feel embarrassed about it.

"Don't worry, I didn't mean it like that, the image just stuck with me because of your hair and how short you are…" Vic explained but got interrupted by Ed.

"WHO IS SO SHORT THAT THEY WOULD GET LOST IN A CONCERT CROWD?" she fumed. She had been keeping this in since yesterday when Vic had called her (well actually Edward, the anime character, but it felt all the same to her) short several times during the panel.

"It oddly felt like I was seeing the real Ed's retreating back," he finished, making an odd face. It was a mixture of suspicion, recognition, doubt, like he thought whatever he was thinking was a bit crazy. But things just kept piling up that suggested otherwise.

The cosplay that looked too real to be a cosplay. Golden hair and eyes. Even if by a nickname but being called Ed. Hating to be called short, and the unrehearsed and utterly authentic short rant. One that couldn't even have come from the anime made up on the spur of the moment, the overly emotional reaction to the character song… The only thing that didn't fit was the gender. Then he remembered Wanda's question… _Oh dear God…_

"Anyway, I have to go, girls, have fun!" he backed up, turned around and started walking away from them.

"I think he figured it out," Ed commented with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, I think so too. And he thinks he is crazy for thinking it," Wanda replied with a stunned expression as she stared at the back of the voice actor.

"I told you, you shouldn't have asked that damn question," Ed admonished with a glare.

"Says the one who just went into a full-blown short-rant in front of him," the brunette countered, putting her hands on her hips as she turned to Ed.

"What do you think we should do?" the alchemist started panicking a bit.

"It's really up to you," Wanda shrugged. "I mean it's your identity we are talking about."

"Thanks so much for the help," Ed groaned at her, dripping with sarcasm as she sprinted down the hall to find Vic.

* * *

"Hey, Vic!" Edeline called out to him when she spotted him two corners later.

"Please tell me I haven't gone crazy and I am not imagining things," he pleaded with her, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"You haven't gone crazy, and you are not imagining things," the alchemist replied calmly.

"How… and… you _are_ a girl?" Vic tried to get his thoughts together.

"I will explain everything just let's go somewhere where no one will overhear us. And this will have to stay between us," Ed stated the conditions to which Vic nodded. They found an unused conference room and sat down to chat.

Ed told him everything that he didn't obviously know. Why and how she was a girl, why she pretended to be a boy, how she wound up in this world and her theory on how and why her story came to be as a manga written by Hiromu Arakawa. She conveniently left out the parts about the Avengers, or anything S.H.I.E.L.D. related.

"Why come to a convention like this?" the voice actor asked finally, this being one of the biggest out of character points for Ed.

"My friend Wanda can be…" she was looking for the right word without giving away her powers. "Quite persuasive."

"Does she…?" Vic inquired, but it was pretty obvious to him too as soon as he started the question.

"Yes, she knows," Ed confirmed.

"Are you going back?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm working on it," the alchemist smirked confidently at the man.

Once every concern and question was settled, and they parted ways, Ed got her cell phone out and called Wanda up.

"Yeah, I think we should head back to New York now," the blonde stated without a greeting or anything once the other girl picked up. "And you soooo owe me for this whole fucking mess you got me into."

* * *

 **A/N: Roy's Rap is from Fullmetal Alchemist 4-Koma Theater. Song in concert: Vic Mignogna - Nothing I Won't Give**

 **If you are wondering, the person Ed met in the café was Dr. Strange. Ed got creeped out and decided to ignore whatever he had said... just how will this affect her chances of getting home?**


	11. High rise adventures with a mouthy merc

**A/N: Disclaimer: The views and comments of Deadpool do not reflect in any way, shape or form the views of the author. You have been warned!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 11: High rise adventures with a mouthy merc**_

* * *

"Are you ready?" Spider-Man asked Ed as they stood on the edge of the balcony on the 90th floor of Stark Tower.

He had suddenly shown up to make sure that the blonde had made a full recovery from her illness and the whole thing turned into a little adventure when he saw that she was apparently okay now.

"Absolutely not," Edeline shook her head furiously. However you looked at it, this plan was insane. "When you said a 'tour of the city' I thought maybe a bus ride on one of those buses that had the top missing or something."

"Yeah… but there is just so much more to see from up here. Don't you trust me?" the hero in the red-blue tights laughed out.

"Are you sure you aren't going to drop me? It's not that anything would happen to me if you did, I just don't want the whole City of New York to become aware of alchemy as I make my way down, transmuting their _beautiful_ high rise buildings," the blonde ranted with a hint of sarcasm regarding her opinion of the architecture of the city.

"First, no, I wouldn't drop you, and even if you do fall, I will catch you. Second, they wouldn't know it was alchemy, and trust me they are used to all sorts of people messing up their beautiful skyline. And besides, you could just go back and fix it, unlike most of those people," Spidey pointed out, crossing his arms as he waited patiently for Ed to make up her mind already.

"Well, at least I am going incognito. Unlike last weekend when Wanda dragged me off to that anime convention or what," she commented on her altered appearance. Her hair was in a ponytail instead of her usual braid, contact lenses safely in, her auto-mail hidden by jeans, leather jacket, gloves, and boots.

"And you didn't take me?" he gasped, making a rather comical expression with his mask.

"It's not like I have a way to contact you. You didn't exactly give me your phone number or your real identity," Ed looked at him pointedly. She was dying to know who the young, smart and witty masked hero of New York actually was.

"Touché… but you just have to scream, and I would come to your rescue," Spidey offered jokingly.

"Now I wish you had the ability to hear me all the way from Seattle. I could have used some rescuing there," the alchemist sighed heavily as she recalled the particularly taxing moments of that weekend.

"Sakura-con?" her friend inquired, showing off his well-versed knowledge of the otaku world, even if he rarely had the chance to actually visit one of these events, given his lack of time and sometimes money.

"I have no idea, but it was the most bizarre experience of my life!" Ed shook her head to get rid of the images that crept into her mind.

"I bet," Spider-Man glanced at her empathetically. "So ready?"

"Ugh. Fine," she nodded finally, bracing herself for what was to come.

"Hang on tight," he ordered as he brought her hands up around his neck from the side.

And they were off, Spidey shooting a webbing to the next building, swinging away, while Ed let out a little, surprised yelp as her stomach launched into her throat. She hated situations where she wasn't the one in control.

"Wow, you are heavier than I thought," the masked vigilante teased as they made their way to his intended destination.

"Fuck off! I've got two auto-mail limbs, remember?" Ed screamed back at him, unable to keep her eyes off of either the street that was way below their feet or her friend's wrists as he shot the white gooey stuff rhythmically to his left and right.

They arrived pretty soon, only a couple of blocks later, settling on the ledge a bit above the designated tourist look-out on the 86th floor of the Empire State building.

"So how's the view?" Spider-Man inquired all excitedly. When he turned to Ed to see her reaction, she was hunched over, clutching her knees trying to keep them from shaking too badly.

"Give me a minute," she held up a finger, whishing the adrenalin to leave her system. Before she could get herself together though, her friend spoke up again.

"Oh, no. Not you again," Spidey groaned frustratedly at someone to his left.

The blonde looked up at him then followed his line of sight and saw another masked man, dressed in all red and black leather, with two katana-like swords fastened to his back in an X. He was sitting on the ledge, dangling his feet and seemingly drawing something with crayons while humming to himself.

"Someone you know?" Edeline glanced back at her friend questioningly.

"'Know' is a strong word I think," he huffed back humorlessly.

Just then the aforementioned man noticed their presence and looked up.

"Yo, Spidey!" he greeted with an over-energetic wave and jumped to his feet to meet them. "Taking your girlfriend out to see the city?" he added when he took note of Ed standing by red-blue tights. "Already called it quits with what's her name? Mary-Kate was it? Or Ashley? No, wait those are the Olsen twins. Elizabeth?"

"Does he ever shut up?" during the rant Edeline glanced at Spider-Man, who was already face-palming himself.

"Their little sister is quite pleasing on the eyes too… Oh right, I remember, Mary Jane. Although in the acting department neither of them are that impressive, no wonder I have them all mixed up."

"No," Spider-Man replied curtly in a whisper to Ed.

"So how's little Ms. Watson? Although now that I think about it, she was great in the Harry Potter movies… No wait that was Emma Watson. My bad!" the weird masked man finished finally, but neither of them was paying any attention.

"Who is he?" Ed asked, whispering back. Before Spider-Man could reply the man did the worst possible thing he could do in front of Ed.

"So who is the shorty?" he asked, which of course caught the blonde's ears instantly.

"DON'T CALL ME SMALL! I'LL RIP OFF YOUR FEET AND STICK 'EM ON YOUR HEAD!" she yelled with pure outrage, the only thing keeping her from jumping at the red-black masked asshole was Spider-Man, who was holding her by the shoulders as she flailed her arms toward the offending party.

"Been there, done that, not as fun as it sounds! The name is Pool, by the way, Deadpool," the merc did a little over exaggerated curtsy. "And who you might be, my fine little lady?" his voice was full of mocking and sarcasm, eager to push Ed's buttons.

"Who are you calling a runt so tiny she can only be seen with a magnifying glass, you jerk?!" the blonde ranted, struggling harder against Spidey's arms.

"Wow, she really gets creative with them! Do all synonyms of the word have the same effect? How about diminutive?" the merc smirked under his mask, which somehow showed all his emotions quite well.

"You get points for using the big word, but you're still going down," Ed practically growled.

"I like her already," Deadpool patronizingly patted her on the head only adding fuel to the fire.

"Would you knock it off?" Spider-Man snapped at his 'friend,' then turned to the girl still trapped in his arms. "It's not worth it, Ed, you can't beat him."

Edeline looked up at him incredulously. Spidey shook just his head, to which she grudgingly stopped struggling.

"Yeah, it's a real sob story, Ed. – So you are actually a boy? Who would have thought! Or transgender? You've still got a nice rack… Going from boy to girl or girl to boy? I don't really mind either way, but never thought Spidey was into this shit!"

"She is not my girlfriend!" Spider-Man said, trying to stay calm.

"It's short for Edeline! Get your fucking mind out of the gutter!" Ed got ticked off.

"Oh, believe me, my mind is permanently in the gutter, although I have never actually tried fucking in there, gotta put it on my bucket list," he snatched a little notebook from who knows where and scribbled something down. "Anyway, with the promise of curing my metastatic cancer I was brutally tortured and experimented on until I turned into this monster, who can even grow back lost limbs," he continued, overdramatically pointing at himself. "Speaking of which, have you seen this guy?" Deadpool shoved the crayon drawing in front of them, in which he was shooting some guy in the face, but it was so poorly drawn that even Deadpool himself was only recognizable because of the red and black mask.

"Are we supposed to be able to tell based on this?" she looked at him sarcastically after glancing at the paper, his comment regarding his regenerative powers not missing her attention either.

"This is Francis, the bastard that did this to me. Although he goes by the name of a cleaning product. I have no idea why though. Maybe his greasy head needs all the help to stay clean," Deadpool hummed nonchalantly.

"You are still at that?" Spider-Man sighed heavily.

"Of course I am. He is the only one who can turn my pretty face back to its Ryan Reynolds level of handsomeness," the merc gesticulated furiously around his face.

"Why what happened to your face?" the blonde asked, her curiosity taking the better of her.

She gasped a little when he pulled his disguise up a bit to reveal half of his features, full of scars as if he had been lit on fire a couple of times. Instantly she thought of Dr. Marcoh, whose face was similarly damaged by Scar's alchemy. Her mind was already doing calculations whether even given his regenerative powers the doc could do something about it with the help of the Philosopher's Stone and medical alchemy. Of course, this was all theory, and in no way was she about to reveal anything about her world to this freak.

"A nasty side effect, keeping me from my sexy girlfriend at the moment. Hence my mission to find and beat the cure out of the bastard," Deadpool flopped back down on the ground.

"If she really loves you, she wouldn't care how you looked," Ed stated in all seriousness.

"Awww, you are so naïve. What a cutie. Where did you find her?" he cooed in mock sweetness as he glanced up at Spidey.

"She is not my girlfriend!" Spider-Man growled at him, starting to lose his patience.

"Anyway, Ed, you will soon enough learn that the pretty, the rich and the famous get everything, and that love is not something all-powerful, everlasting thing with rainbows and unicorns and shit that could overcome anything," Deadpool continued, ignoring his comment.

"It must suck to be a disillusioned fuck as you are," the alchemist commented with a roll of her eye.

"And this is guys why you don't stop to argue with a blonde, they are just too stupid to understand what you are saying," Deadpool turned to the side to talk to who knows whom as if he was conspiratorially sharing some kind of secret.

"Is he crazy or just high as fuck?" Ed inquired from Spidey with a worried glance.

"Leave him be, he will snap out of it," he sighed. "He is talking to the 'readers.' He thinks he is in a comic book."

"Ah-ha," the girl nodded apprehensively. "So crazy it is."

"Crazier, if you think about it, that you are actually in a comic book," Spider-Man commented with a little laugh.

"Let's not get into that," Ed groaned as she shoved him playfully a bit.

"Your girlfriend has her own comic book? Why haven't I heard of you before? I know like every god damned superhero around here, but Ed doesn't ring a bell," Deadpool perked up, not as oblivious to what was going on around him after all.

"For the last time, we are just friends," the red-blue masked guy groaned frustratedly.

"Way to go, Spidey," the Fullmetal Alchemist snapped at her friend. "I was trying to avoid letting that cat out of the bag."

"Sorry," he muttered apologetically.

"Don't worry I already looked up 'short rant Ed' and came across Edward Elric," the merc fiddled with his phone while they argued.

"Oh, great!" she grumbled. The last thing Ed wanted to know was the things the internet had on her.

"Fullmetal Alchemist. Oh, it's a manga and anime. That explains why I never heard of you. Boy, let me tell you, the Japanese can come up with some freaky shit… have you ever seen their octopus porn?" Deadpool laughed out. "I can kind of see the resemblance between you two, although your hair and eyes are different. Not that clever of a disguise if anyone can see through it this easily. Almost as bad as Clark Kent with those hipster glasses of his. Who the hell falls for that? He clearly is Superman," he ranted on but neither of them what he was talking about. "Sooooo that means you _are_ actually a boy!"

"I am not… I just had to pretend to be one…" the blond girl pouted sulkily. "And the writer got it wrong in her dream."

"C'mere my little pervert, I never knew underage boys were your thing. Even the Vatican would envy you," the merc with a mouth entrapped Spidey in a bear hug and started kissing him on the cheeks.

"Gross, man! Let me go!" he tried to escape looking at Ed for help.

"You dug your own grave," she put up her hands as if not concerning herself with the matter. Then clapped them together, slammed them down on the ground, and sent Deadpool and Spider-Man both flying with an emerging boulder. It caused the former to release his hold on red-blue tights, but while her friend just shot a webbing to get back to her side, the merc landed a little ways off away from them, out of view at the moment.

"I thought you wanted to keep this a secret?" Spidey snickered at Ed.

"Shut up! I think it's a moot point now anyway," the alchemist huffed back.

Rounding the corner, they saw Deadpool impaled on a radio antenna.

"Shit!" the blonde called out, recalling all too well her own similar experience in the mine shaft. She frantically started climbing up to rescue the merc from his predicament that she had caused for him, already thinking of the ways she should try and save his life, closing his wound before he could bleed out.

"Ah, man, my suit is ruined again!" he whined like a little kid as he pushed himself off, dropping down right by Ed as she was trying to reach him.

She just stared at him wide-eyed as she made her way down too. Right before her eyes, his abdominal hole closed right up. Unable to help herself Ed patted its place, making sure it really was all better.

"I know I'm a catch, baby doll, but let's not get all touchy-feely with your boyfriend present right here," Deadpool wiggled his nonexistent brows at the alchemist.

"For the love of Truth! WE-ARE-NOT-TOGETHER!" the blonde snapped at him, spelling it out for the merc.

"Why didn't you start with that? Geez, you people are so difficult sometimes!" he huffed, throwing his hands in the air as he jumped down from the ledge right between the surprised mass of tourists and disappeared through the door that led to the elevators.

Thoroughly exhausted by that encounter, Ed and Spidey swung back to the Tower, abandoning all their other plans they had for the city tour.


	12. Hellish night

**A/N: Minor spoilers for the end of season 2 of the Netflix Daredevil series, but nothing much I think, this is just a hurt/comfort idea I had for Ed to meet Daredevil.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 12: Hellish night**_

* * *

Edeline strolled along the abandoned streets of nighttime Hell's Kitchen. It was only a few short blocks from the Tower right on the other side of the Theatre District – another shady neighborhood no one in their right mind would have wanted to walk alone in at night, especially if they were a girl, but such concerns weren't exactly applicable to the alchemist. She could take care of herself, _thank you very much_ , despite what some of her superhero friends might have thought.

Steve was the worst of them, acting like an annoying and overprotective big brother she never asked for, despite the spectacular display of her capabilities when she subdued none other than Iron Man in like three minutes tops.

So what if she was unfamiliar with many things in this world? It's not like she hadn't had her fair share of unusual back home as the Fullmetal Alchemist… _I deciphered the secret behind the Philosopher's Stone and fought a bunch of homunculi for Truth's sake! I can figure out a few oddities that might come my way!_ So in a fit of pent-up frustrations and with many threats aimed at F.R.I.D.A.Y. if it were to reveal her absence, the blonde had snuck out of the tower to explore the city a bit. Without "adult" supervision. Although you could hardly call Spider-Man an adult if you considered the fact that he was only a short three years older than her.

To be completely honest she had another motive too. Namely the fact that she was itching to get into some action. Ed could hear and see that the city always seemed to be in a constant state of uproar, police cars, ambulances and/or firetrucks constantly zooming around since there was always _something_ going on. She wanted to help. Make a difference even if a small one.

The Avengers didn't concern themselves with such "trivial" tasks, they were only called in on larger scale threats, ones that involved massive alien attacks, where the stakes were usually all or nothing. Spidey, on the other hand, was always on the streets, handling small-time criminals, and the alchemist suspected he wasn't the only masked vigilante out there.

So she looked up which part of town was the most crime-stricken, and that's how she found herself east of the Hudson River in mid-Manhattan. Two would be muggers were already confined and taken care of, purses returned to their rightful owners, and the police notified about their whereabouts through an anonymous call from a public payphone, without much the use of alchemy (only for the confinement part) or even breaking a sweat. _Piece of cake._

Edeline was just about to call it a night when movement caught her eye behind one of the dumpsters in the alley she had just passed. She warily approached, expecting maybe a passed out drunk or druggie, perhaps a homeless or two. She was certainly not prepared for a man covered head to toe in deep red getup – couldn't really call it spandex, more like a very close fitting leather light armor, except it definitely wasn't made out of leather, but something much more durable.

The mask he was wearing was definitely something else, covering only the top half of his face, adorned by two little devil's horns. If it weren't for the fact that the man was lying there passed out and clearly injured, she would have chuckled to herself. _Finally a kindred spirit in the choices for designs!_

She was relieved it wasn't that crackpot Deadpool she had met only a few days prior with Spider-Man, whom she had thought of when she first caught sight of the hue of the outfit, but the finer details quickly cleared that worry up. The merc with a mouth was undoubtedly someone she had no patience for at this moment. Now the only question was, _who the hell was this?_

Okay, not the only question. Ed quickly checked if the slumped figure was breathing or not, and much to her relief he was, even if it was a little shallow. She carefully placed him from his half-sitting posture to lying flat on his back on the pavement, then checked him over for injuries. A couple of fractured, possibly broken ribs and a head wound judging from his bloodied face and labored breathing was all that she could ascertain without removing his clothing or mask and waking him up.

As Ed reached for the mask the man's hand suddenly shot up from his side and stopped hers.

"Don't," he stated in a leveled voice, clearly trying not to let his pain show.

"Fucking vigilantes and their fucking secret identities…" Ed mumbled under her breath almost inaudibly, thinking the guy wouldn't hear her in his dazed state but he caught every word of it. "Look, I'm one of you and not from around here, so I don't have any reason to reveal it to anyone even if I did find out," she continued in a calmer tone after taking a big breath. "On the other hand that seems like a pretty nasty gash under the mask, judging from the amount of blood, maybe you even have a concussion, and I think you might have a few fractured ribs…" the alchemist ranted on with a sense of urgency. In the meanwhile, she was also trying to employ every bit of medical knowledge she had picked up from the Rockbell household and her own studies in human transmutation.

"I know they are fractured, but it's only a crack or two," the man winced as he placed his hand on his chest. _How did he know for sure?_

"In any case, you need a doctor," the blonde insisted although she could very well understand the aversion that was clearly showing with the grimace that now occupied his lower face. "Or not, but you still need a place to recuperate…" she was already thinking up possible reasons and excuses to smuggle him into the Avengers Tower.

"Just help me get to my apartment, it's only two blocks north from here," the masked vigilante grunted after a few beats. Unbeknownst to Ed, he had been listening to her heartbeat all this time to see whether she was lying or having ill intentions toward him but he could detect none, not even during that little speech regarding the mask. The girl was just frustrated and clearly worried.

As she helped him up with a disapproving shake of her head and they started slowly for the redbrick down the street, Daredevil tried to get a better read on his rescuer. _She seems awfully young, teenager probably, how can she be "one of us"? What did she mean by that? Masked vigilante? Someone with… "special" powers? Despite her relatively small frame, she is supporting my weight quite easily, the way she carries herself speaks of rigorous training, but her footsteps aren't the same, her left foot catches the pavement with a heavier, almost a metallic thud…_

Now that he thought about it consciously, he could hear with his hyper-sensitive senses the movement of every gear and bearing in her leg, and smell the motor-oil lubricating the mechanics. _Artificial limb… also her right arm…_ He deducted. _How did I miss this before?_ There was also something else about her… almost as if electric energy was coursing through her veins, unlike anything he had ever experienced about anyone else he had encountered before. _Just what did she mean by not being from around here?_ The way she stressed it made the impression on Matt that she wasn't talking about New York, but maybe not even America or Planet Earth, but that seemed… just too crazy for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen to consider with his blood rushing in his ears because of that head wound the girl – _I don't even know her name_ – was worried about. _Yeah, a concussion was a definite possibility._

"This one right here," Matt breathed out with a pained huff when they reached his building. It seemed like an old factory or warehouse that was converted to loft apartments. Ed waited for him to fumble around for his keys without a word, keeping a lookout. She suspected this wasn't the way he usually returned after a night of… _vigilance_ … but he was in no shape to make his access from the rooftop, and both of them knew it.

The journey up the stairs was painfully long, but fortunately, no neighbors stuck their heads out on the hallway to check on the commotion, not that they were very loud, but at 1 AM every out of place sound was ten times louder.

When they finally made it inside the apartment, Edeline helped the man to the couch to lie down.

"Do you have a first aid kit anywhere?" was the only thing the blonde asked.

"Top left cabinet in the kitchen," he replied in a resigned tone. Ed went over there, noting the broken drinking glass by the wall, instinctively wanting to fix it but thought better of it until some familiarity was built up with the man. She didn't want to alarm him with her abilities.

The man meanwhile was starting to have a strong sense of déjà vu to the time when Claire had found him in a similar situation. He had no other option but to let her care for him then, ultimately dragging her in a lot of danger just by association alone. He didn't want the same fate for this little girl, but what choice did he have. _She did say she is one of us…_

By this time the girl had made her way back to the couch and lowered herself on her knees by his side with the box containing the medical supplies.

"I really do need to take a look at that head wound," the alchemist stated in a flat voice.

Daredevil sighed, which made him wince because of the way his muscles pulled on his fractured ribs but let her take the mask off anyway.

Ed got the disinfectant and some gauze and began to clean the wound but quickly panicked when she saw that his eyes stared into nothing, clearly not focusing on her or anything else in the room.

"Don't worry about it, I'm blind," the man stated sensing her increased worry, guessing at the cause of it.

"Why do I get the sense that there is a but in there somewhere, because you are clearly able to navigate the world without too much trouble if you are out there beating up bad guys. Although looking at your state now maybe not," the blonde frowned at the injured man before her.

"Tonight was kind of shit," he admitted.

"No kidding," the alchemist snorted with dark humor. The head wound was cleaned out, wasn't as deep as she thought at first and placed a big bandage on it. "Do you feel nauseous or anything?"

"No," he answered curtly.

"Can't really ask if you are seeing double or not…" Ed continued hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I've had worse a couple of weeks ago and survived," Matt mentioned as if it were nothing.

"Do I want to know?" she quirked a brow.

"Shot in the head at point-blank range, the only thing stopping it was the mask," Daredevil revealed flatly. It was as if nothing could really faze him, or it didn't matter. _He doesn't really have any regard for his own health…_ Ed deadpanned. Her inner Al added quickly: _Sound like anyone you know?_

"Really wishing I had studied medical alchemy…" the worry was evident in her voice. Concussions were actually worse if they came soon after another.

"Alchemy?" Matt turned his head slightly toward her, his interest piqued but he was also confused.

"You could say that's my ability. I would show you…" Ed hesitated. _Would he be able to sense anything of the whole demonstration without his sight?_

"Does it have anything to do with this electric current type of feeling I'm getting from you?" he inquired.

"I guess, although nobody ever felt anything different about me before," the alchemist perked up at the notion. _Maybe he will be able to sense the transmutation after all…_ "There is a broken glass by the wall over there, I could fix it."

"Yeah, I dropped that weeks ago, but haven't had the time to clean it up…" Matt trailed off sensing that the girl had already gotten to her feet making her way over to the said spot. He could hear her clap then the whole electric current feeling that was only a low hum until now intensified tenfold. As she touched the glass shards, he could feel it pulsating through the room, illuminating everything in his weird sense of the world, everything felt sharper for a fraction of a second, then it died down. It was kind of amazing, he had to admit.

With the newly repaired glass, Ed trotted to the kitchen to pour some water in it and returned to the masked vigilante's side offering it to him. It was good as new he realized, not even the fracture tension present in the material where they should have been if it was just glued together or something. The whole structure of the glass seemed to have been remolded as if it was reheated and reformed in a glass forge.

"Thanks," he mumbled as he took a tentative sip. Ed took the glass from him when he was finished and placed it on the floor by her side, noticing the horned mask again.

Picking it up, she examined it more closely, running her fingers on the material, studying it. The alchemist had never encountered the material before, but she was sure it could have withstood a small caliber bullet even from close range. The man was really lucky it hadn't been pointed to his lower face though.

"I'm sure you know by now who I am," Matt commented darkly, being fully aware of what the girl was doing.

"Not at all, actually. Told you, not from around here. I do like the horns though," she finally let herself chuckle at the notion. Matt just grimaced at that.

"They like to call me the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, so I thought why not cater to their wishes," he remarked, still in that dark, sour mood.

"And what do you like to call yourself?" Ed inquired, already dreading the cheesy name he might have thought up if her other friends' names were anything to go by.

"Nothing. They have a few other names for me though, Daredevil just to mention one," Matt informed unemotionally.

"Well you can call me Ed… it's short for Edeline," she added quickly before he could question the decidedly non-feminine nature of her nickname.

"Matt," he breathed with a ghost of a smile. For some reason, he thought he could trust the alchemist with that piece of information.

"Well, Matt, we should really get you out of that suit to check on the ribs just to make sure. It can't be comfortable," Ed quipped nonchalantly, but she was a bit touched by the honesty. Even Spider-man hadn't trusted her yet with something like this, and she had known him way longer.

"There should be a pair of sweats on the bed in the room to your left," Matt told her, already trying to sit up and reach the back of the outfit, but grunted against the pain.

"Men and their fucking egos…" the blonde huffed at the stubborn action, not that she was one to talk, but in the past, she had other reason to not let anyone touch her. "I'll help just wait a sec," and she was already heading for the sliding door to retrieve the comfy piece of clothing.

Once she got back, they peeled the suit off carefully, and she helped the pants on. For a moment Matt wondered if this was appropriate with a teenaged girl, but he couldn't sense any kind of reaction from Ed at the sight of men's boxer briefs and his almost naked body. She was either in full caretaker mode or men had no effect on her in this sense.

Edeline carefully fingered the ribs where a massive bruise was already forming and was pleased to find that they really were only cracked. Still painful but at least no danger of punctured lungs or hemothorax if he didn't aggravate it.

Just as she sat back down on her heels, her phone went off, causing her jump startled.

"Fucking Steve and his constant worrying…" she muttered as she fished the cell phone out of her pocket and picked it up. "Yeah?"

 _"_ _Where are you? It's past 2 AM!"_ Matt could hear an anxious male voice with his heightened senses on the other side of the line.

"With a friend. I'll be back later," Ed rolled her eyes as she stood up to walk over to the kitchen to at least have the semblance of privacy, although she suspected Matt could hear every word Steve said too, given the expression he was carrying just a second ago. Something mixed between mild amusement and disapproval. _Why does everyone think I need a guardian?_

 _"_ _I'm going to kill Tony for letting you sneak out like that!"_ Steve seethed.

"For one, you are not my father, two, Tony had nothing to do with this," the blonde rubbed the side of her head already regretting picking the call up.

 _"_ _F.R.I.D.A.Y. refused to track your phone or inform us that you are gone, so I'm pretty sure he had everything to do with it."_ Okay, maybe not regretting it. That option was way worse and if she didn't give any sign of life then sooner or later they would have persuaded the AI into cooperating despite the threats she had made to the computer's well-being. She had found the server room not too long ago and was intent on doing a little hardware damage if she was not left alone.

"No, that was my doing. Look, I have to go, but I'm fine and will be back later, so stop fucking worrying like I'm some helpless little girl. You know full well I can take care of myself. Goodnight, Steve," and with that she ended the conversation, pushing the red icon on her touchscreen.

"Boyfriend?" Daredevil asked with mirth. His young rescuer turned out to be quite entertaining.

"No, just my friends that I'm staying with who think they have the right to baby me and disregard everything they know about me because I have only been in this world for less than a month," Ed huffed while staring at her phone, contemplating whether to turn it off or not. She finally decided against it and just pocketed it, only to have it buzz with a text. It was from Wanda.

 ** _"_** ** _I told Steve you were fine, but you know him. Have fun ;) W"_**

 _Great… another totally wrong assumption._ – the blonde groaned internally.

"Another friend?" Matt inquired from the couch, guessing based on the entirely different reaction to the text message than what she gave earlier to that fellow called Steve.

"Yeah, she thinks I'm out partying or getting laid or something…" Ed scowled as she pocketed the phone again.

"And you weren't?" Daredevil deduced. To tell the truth, he was wondering what the girl could have possibly been doing out this late at night in the neighborhood himself.

"No, I told you. I'm one of you guys. Although I'm not sure knocking out two would be muggers meant too much in this part of town," the alchemist's frown deepened. _It didn't really matter in the grander scheme of things what I did after all, right?_

"Do they know, about… you know?" he tried to get to the bottom of the reason they might have worried about her.

"Of course they do, they are the Avengers," the blonde revealed. Maybe that should have been a secret, but it's not like their little gang hadn't made the national news a couple of times already. Their identities were never really concealed. Especially Tony's, who had gone and announced to the whole world he was Iron Man even before joining Fury's little pet project. Ed had seen the video of the press conference online. _Ego-maniac._

Now that was a piece of news Matt was not prepared for, he had heard about them on TV and radio before, and although there was never a mention of someone with a similar name to Ed's, she was clearly not lying. And she did mention something about only having been in this world for about a month.

"You don't believe me," Ed stated – not asked – based on the frown Daredevil was adorning on his face that she noticed as she made her way back to where he was lying down.

"I believe you. I would know if you were lying," Matt tried to assure her.

"May I ask how you would know?" the alchemist inquired. She was wondering about the extent of the blind man's capabilities anyway.

"Heartbeat," he stated with a small smile.

"Just how good is your hearing?" Ed asked warily. _That phone conversation was definitely overheard._ Not that it mattered, just a little embarrassing that she had an overbearing brother figure in her life.

"Good enough that I can hear the faucet dripping in the bathroom of the apartment two floors down and at the other end of the hallway," Matt confirmed.

"Huh," the alchemist hummed as she processed this. "I'm guessing then my auto-mail is no secret either."

"Auto-mail?" Matt asked although he could guess.

"Artificial limbs from my world," Ed affirmed his suspicions.

"Yeah, I can hear the mechanics, although it's quieter than I would have assumed. But the smell of motor-oil is telling too," Daredevil added. Ed tried to sniff at her right arm inconspicuously if she really smelled that strongly of motor-oil. It was unavoidable, that was the reason she wore black usually too to avoid staining.

"I doubt anyone else would be able to notice it," Matt chuckled with a little wince at the self-conscious act of the girl.

"I think we can safely assume you are not going to choke on your own vomit from concussion by now so try to get some sleep," the alchemist commented as she crossed her arms.

Noticing her new found friend's evident physical discomfort from talking, she deemed it time to actually rest, although until now it had been convenient that the conversation just flowed between them precisely for the reason mentioned above. It had kept the masked vigilante awake and alert, making it easy to spot sudden changes that might have occurred in his condition from the injuries.

"You can sleep in the bedroom if you are staying," he offered as he slowly closed his eyes, exhaustion evidently claiming him.

"I'm fine here, better to keep an eye on you just in case anyway," not to mention she had no intention of sleeping in a practically stranger man's bed.

Ed didn't receive a reply to that, and she went to position herself on the relatively wide window sill. It overlooked the side-alley by the building so didn't give much of a view, not to mention that they were pretty glossed over – not that it mattered to a blind man.

Her firm determination to stay awake lasted till about 5 AM when the first rays of the morning sun were starting to lighten the night. Her head lolled to her shoulder, her temple supported by the cold glass. She had slept in more uncomfortable places before anyway. On trains… Al's armor…

* * *

Ed jolted awake when she heard the couch creak as Daredevil sat up.

"Light sleeper I see," Matt commented as soon as he noticed her change in breathing. Ed gave him an amused raise of her left brow at his choice of words then looked at her phone, it was only 7 AM. He gave a small smile with equal mirth, having caught the slight change in her exhale that would have been a snort if it were more forceful.

"How's the head and ribs?" the blonde inquired when she caught him hugging his side with his right arm.

"Been worse. You don't have worry about me," he brushed her concerns off as he got up slowly and shuffled to the bedroom, only to return shortly after with a loose hoodie pulled over his upper body.

"Right," Ed replied in a clipped tone. She could sense that her help was no longer wanted or needed, and she didn't really want to impose. Just as she got up to leave, Matt whipped his head towards the window, highly concentrating.

"I'm going to have company in a minute," the brown-haired man announced after having recognized the distinct footsteps on the pavement outside the building that belonged to his girlfriend, or ex, or whatever Karen was after everything they have been through. He hadn't seen her since he broke the news to her that he was in fact Daredevil.

"Should I jump out the window or prepare to fight?" Ed tried to guess if this visitor was a good thing or not, but she couldn't decide based on Matt's troubled expression. Within seconds he could smell her perfume in the building, so they had maybe twenty seconds before she reached the door.

"Neither, it will be fine, I'll just talk to her," Matt waved her off.

"Her, huh," Ed huffed in amusement. "You look like a mess."

"It's fine, she knows," he said as he walked over to the door to open it although his unexpected guest hadn't even knocked yet.

That knock came at the exact same time he made it there. Ed was impressed, to tell the truth, for a blind man he had a better understanding of his surroundings than 99.9% of the population.

"Matt, we have to talk…" Karen began in an urgent manner but halted as soon as she saw the state he was in. "Oh my God, what happened to you?" her voice changed instantly to that of intense apprehension.

"It's nothing," he tried to appease her, only to earn a huff and what Ed would have guessed an annoyed roll of her eyes since she didn't have visual on her yet because of the corridor wall. That soon changed when her clicking heels indicated that she was making her way into the apartment, Matt closing the door behind her with a heavy sigh.

Karen stopped in her tracks, frozen in her place when she saw Ed, the two blondes staring at each other for a bit.

"Karen, this is Ed," Matt informed as he went for the bookshelves on top of which a pair of red-tinged glasses lied. It was apparent he was more comfortable wearing them around the girl.

A hint of jealousy was probably what flickered across Karen's face at the sight of the golden-eyed blonde at first, but her tomboyish and very teenager-like looks quickly dissipated it.

"Don't mind me, just a random hero buddy your boyfriend met just last night and who pulled him out from behind a dumpster and made sure he didn't choke himself on his own vomit from a concussion or give himself hemothorax from punctured lungs," Ed added dripping with sarcasm. Matt threw her a thoroughly unamused look for giving out the details of his condition he desperately wanted to avoid.

Karen stared at her a bit dumbfounded, trying to figure out if she was joking or not, but her guess was that she was not, just annoyed a bit with Matt, which notion she clearly shared.

"Thank you for looking after him," gratitude won out at last as she gave Ed a warm look of appreciation.

She was pretty, Ed decided. In an understated, girl-next-door kind of way with her fair skin, light blue eyes, but pretty nonetheless. _A bit like Winry… though her eyes are a much more vibrant shade of blue and she is more muscular in build with all that auto-mail building whereas Karen was like a slender, delicate flower._

"You are welcome. And don't be that hard on him, he is a good guy just too wrapped up in his ill-perceived sense of duty and guilt," Ed whispered to Karen conspiratorially – knowing full well that he heard as well anyway but just had to put the thought out there – and patted the taller blonde on her arm as she passed her on her way out.

 _Trust me I know the feeling…_ The alchemist threw one last glance at Matt who looked shocked by the revelation that Ed saw through him so quickly. Like she was reading his heartbeat the same way he had done to her. Ed, of course, had done no such thing, but it was hard to miss the signs of a burden like this being carried when she had done the same for so long.

With a light tap on the wall and a nod that she knew he would catch despite his lack of sight, she was out the door.

Just in time for another anxious phone call.

"Steve, for the love of Truth! One more call where you act like my mother and I'm running away from home!" she huffed exasperatedly.

"Fury had just called regarding a strange piece of intel that reached his ears about a blonde, golden-eyed girl running around New York, apprehending petty criminals with some weird electricity looking energy that comes from her hands with a clap. Do you happen to know anything about that?" Captain America informed her in a way too emotionless voice for him.

Ed stopped right in the middle of a flight of stairs.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked finally as she continued on her way, pushing the front door open.

"Actually no. He said to keep on doing it if it keeps you happy, just make sure you wear your contacts when not running around doing that, and have your hair up in a different style or something. Maybe emphasize on your boyish side while playing Fullmetal Alchemist, if you want to have some semblance of privacy when not," Steve explained with a sigh, apparently not agreeing with the judgment of the director.

"I'll see what I can do about that…" Ed grinned from ear to ear.


	13. May my sins be a lesson for all

**A/N: Still a bit of mention of the end of Season 2 of the Netflix Daredevil series.**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 13: May my sins be a lesson for all_**

* * *

The rhythmic clicking of the white stick against the pavement guided Matt Murdock through the crowd on 5th Avenue. He rarely went to this part of town, usually only if his law practice required it but he hadn't been involved in that since Nelson & Murdock fell apart a few weeks prior when his crime-fighting life took precedence over his other duties.

Nonetheless, he came because for the past week a certain individual he had met kept creeping into his thoughts. The young girl helped him a week ago when he was in a bit a pinch and had said some things, especially her last words, which were directed at Karen who had shown up the morning after that, gave him some food for thought.

For some reason, he wanted to talk to her again. Matt had no clue as to what to say to her when that actually happened, but he wanted to anyway because she gave him a kind of solace and insight no one, not even Father Lantom could provide.

For whatever reason, she seemed to understand him and his inner turmoil even though she knew nothing about him.

And why was he on 5th Avenue, you ask? Well, the girl – Edeline – had given him only a few context clues on which he could start on in finding her. She stayed with the Avengers, the Tower was just a few blocks down from where Matt stood, and she carried the smell of books on her, which led Daredevil to believe she spent a lot of time in the company of books, probably in a library.

Her smell was an interesting thing. When he had first met her, Matt didn't really pay attention to it but thinking back the mixture of motor-oil, books and sunshine were pretty unique indeed. That last part he attributed to the peculiar humming of electricity that coursed through her veins that he learned was connected to her ability that she called alchemy. You know how on a bright sunny day the air just smells different, somehow richer? That was exactly the effect Ed had on the air around her. Not that Matt thought anyone would have noticed without superhuman smell, which he incidentally had.

So going on those clues, he decided to try his luck and maybe catch the young alchemist going to or from the Public Library in case that was really her source of books. He wasn't that keen on the prospect of being overly upfront and seek her out in her residence. She surely wouldn't have appreciated that, given what he saw of her dynamic with the rest of the inhabitants, and surely they wouldn't have appreciated him either, given their occupation. Also, it would have risen too many questions he had no intention of answering. In the meanwhile, he had a walk in the vicinity.

It was a little after closing time at 6 PM that he finally heard what he was looking for when he made it back to the bottom of the steps. Alternatingly lighter and heavier thuds of thick-soled leather boots and the minute cranking of gears, whirring of bearings. Edeline for sure.

* * *

Ed rushed out of the library after staying past closing time again, with a bunch of books she signed out, intent on reading them back at the Tower in the evening. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, in her hurry she nearly ran into a blind guy wearing an elegant grey suit. She almost whirred past him without another thought but then backtracked to realize it was none other than Matt, complete with his red-tinged round glasses and a white stick that almost seemed comical to her with the knowledge she possessed regarding his heightened senses other than his sight.

Matt was smiling at her knowingly which instantly made Ed think that this meeting was no coincidence.

"Why do I get the feeling I just got a new stalker?" the blonde uttered the first thing on her mind with a snort as she readjusted the books in her arms.

"I don't know, did you? I could help with the restraining order if you'd like," Matt murmured as he set the white stick's end down on the pavement, clutching the other end in front of his middle.

Ignoring that comment, Ed assessed Daredevil in front of her. His head wound looked as if almost completely gone and he didn't move like he was in any pain, which was kind of impossible with only a week passing since they were inflicted on his body.

"How's the head?" she decided to ask finally.

"It's fine," he answered curtly.

"Do you say anything else besides that to questions regarding your well-being?" Ed huffed with a little laugh because seriously it was baffling how easily they fell into a banter like they had known each other for years, yet they knew next to nothing of the other person in front of them.

They couldn't continue very long though because – just like last time – something caught Matt's attention. At least that's what Ed assumed when he ever so slightly turned his head to the right. Before she could ask him about it though, someone called his name.

"Matt?" a sandy-brown-haired, slightly chubby guy equally dressed in a suit approached them, obviously coming from work with his document case in hand.

"Long time no see, Foggy," the blind man greeted him with a warm but uneasy smile. It was evident to Ed that they were close, but something must have happened between them that caused the tension.

"Yeah," was all he could say in response lamely. That's when the petite teenaged girl standing right by his former name partner caught his attention.

"Edeline, this is Franklin Nelson, we had a law firm together," Matt introduced them.

 _Law_ _firm, huh? Lawyer by day, vigilante by night… that restraining order stuff makes so much more sense now…_

"Just call me Ed," she dismissed the whole formality of the situation.

"Foggy…" he trailed off. For some reason, Ed looked awfully familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it. Golden hair, up in a simple pony-tail, green eyes, although they seemed like colored contacts if you looked closely enough, the mixture of blue and gold actually. She was dressed in black leather pants, platform boots, and an overly large red knitted sweater. Also, black gloves that covered her hands, which seemed weird given that it wasn't all that cold anymore to warrant them. She seemed a bit out of place with all those books in her arms. "So what do you do?"

"University student," the blonde blurted out almost instantly.

It wasn't technically true yet, but Fury was already setting up things for her to talk with the dean about taking a set of exams so she could enter their Ph.D. program despite never having officially finished high school or a master's degree. Not that it would pose any difficulty for her in the field she chose. She could see Matt's brow raise a bit, but he didn't interrupt, respecting her privacy and prerogative to share what she wanted to share. He certainly wasn't one to talk.

Ed also got the sense earlier that Matt wanted to talk about something but wouldn't mention it now with Foggy's sudden appearance. While his friend "interrogated" her, she started tapping out ever so lightly the message "If you wanted to talk, midnight, your place." in Morse code on the bottom of the stack of books in her hand, knowing full well he would hear it.

"What field?" Foggy inquired in surprise, given that she seemed too young to be a university student.

"Chemistry," Ed replied absent-mindedly, focusing on Matt instead to see if he was getting her message. The almost unnoticeable nod of his head told her everything she wanted to know.

"Wow, good-looking and smart, you will have to tell me, Matt, how exactly you single them out despite being blind," he patted Matt on the back awkwardly. _He knows._ – Ed concluded from the look Foggy gave Matt. – _But he doesn't if I know it._ She decided to end their misery with a quick exit so that they could catch up or whatever that they needed to do.

"I really should be going, my friends made me promise not to stay in the library past closing time, so I'm late as it is. They want game night," the alchemist said hurriedly with a roll of her eyes and absolute loath for the idea, catching Daredevil's knowing smirk that that was the absolute truth.

"Have a great evening!" Foggy waved her off.

"Bye, Ed," Matt nodded to her calmly as she took off toward the Avengers Tower, although that was only evident to him.

"Weird girl," Foggy shook his head when Ed was safely out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked nonchalantly. Of course, he already knew what made her unique but was curious what his former partner might have picked up on.

"I mean obviously she is not in university, she couldn't be older than sixteen. Makes you wonder why she is lying," Foggy frowned but Matt knew better, that didn't seem like a complete lie to him, more like a little bending of the truth. "That brings the other question, how do you know her exactly?" his voice was full off accusation.

"She is just a friend," Matt sighed.

"What about Karen? Because if you are screwing her over…" Foggy was very protective of the girl who used to be their secretary. He knew her and Matt's relationship was kind of rocky at the moment, but it didn't mean that he wasn't going to stand up for her, even if against his best friend.

"It's not like that Foggy, besides you said it yourself, she is sixteen," he was starting to get exasperated with the insinuation.

"So again how do you know her?" Foggy tried again.

"Our mutual friend was kind of in trouble," he said as in code for Daredevil was beaten to a pulp and she saved his sorry ass. Foggy of course had other associations with this phrase. Claire called Matt's alter ego "their mutual friend." _So maybe Ed was a friend of hers?_

"I'm not going to get more out of you, aren't I?" Worry he did, it was not an everyday occurrence that the Man in the Mask needed anyone's help. It meant that shit went downhill real fast.

"No," Murdock smiled a little shyly, hoping Foggy would understand.

"So… how've you been?" Nelson asked after a few seconds of awkward silence and hesitation. It has been entirely too long since they had a normal conversation with each other.

"I told Karen," Matt filled him in on the single most important happening of his life in the last couple of weeks that didn't involve actually going after hardened criminals or getting injured in the process.

"Well, that explains a lot," Foggy mused.

"What do you mean?" Murdock inquired with a raised brow as they fell into a walk of comfortable rhythm towards the general direction of his home.

"She has been acting weird lately, those few times I saw her at Josie's. A lot seemed to be on her mind," his friend explained with a faraway, contemplating look.

"We talked again a week ago, I think we cleared some air," Daredevil stated as he thought back to that night when Edeline left. Her words obviously had an effect on Karen too. They hadn't spoken since, but she seemed less angry afterward.

"Good. You guys are cute together," approval was evident in his voice, despite whatever feelings he might or might not had for their former female colleague.

The blind man didn't know how to respond to that. He was just glad to have Foggy's blessing.

"Are we… good?" Matt asked after few moments of silence. He hated the tension that had built up between them over the last month.

"Yeah, man… we are good," Foggy sighed, patting him lightly on his back.

"How's the new job?" Murdock asked, genuinely interested.

"It's awesome…" and he began a long monologue on his new workplace as they caught a taxi since their conversation had taken a neutral ground, away from anything that might have had implicated Matt regarding his double life.

* * *

"No! Like this…" Tony tried to show Ed how to use the game controller for the twentieth time before she broke it. Wouldn't be the first time.

The concept of manipulating a small digital figure on the screen to punch and kick other little characters through a bulky piece of plastic in her hand that wasn't even physically connected to the game console was beyond moronic to her. Especially when she could just go out and punch people for real, no matter how many times the man-child beside her tried to prove otherwise. _What was so damn enjoyable about this?_

"Okay, I give up!" the alchemist threw the controller on the couch beside her in frustration about five minutes later. There was nothing – _absolutely nothing_ – productive about the whole endeavor. _I have no idea why I agreed to this!_ She wanted to read through the books she had brought home instead before she had to leave to meet the mysterious blind man in an hour and a half to make it over to his part of town on time. Or maybe look her new friend up online, since she had some more pointers to go on now.

Edeline stalked over into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee, and when no audible objections arose, she just retreated to her own room.

Tony and Clint shared a look, but no one dared to say anything. They were expecting the alchemist to disappear for the better part of the night again like she did almost every single evening for a week now. They knew that Fury had no objections to her activities, but still they wished there was something other than going out risking herself and her identity that could keep her occupied. Or at least know what she was up to. In more detail than just "keeping a watch over the city."

Although that was the most the Avengers could get out of the alchemist directly, some newspapers seemed to have caught up on her activities. There had already been two articles about a mysterious new vigilante described by black and red clothing, golden hair and eyes, not to mention some sort of power that manifested as blue sparks, although they couldn't make up their minds if the sightings were of a teenaged boy or girl. Thankfully no one had made the connection to the Tower yet, Ed had been obviously careful to slip out through the underground garage that had a hidden passage to the tunnel system of the city.

The same couldn't be said for Ed's real identity. Not Edeline Krueger, her cover, but the Fullmetal Alchemist. Apparently, some anime enthusiasts had written into the paper after the first article that that description was terribly familiar to their favorite show and the reporter just went with it in the second one. Needless to say, they were really conflicted on whether to tell her about that or not.

* * *

Ed got her hair in a braid and took her contacts out, fastened her chest bands and got dressed in her Fullmetal Alchemist outfit, giving a fond glance to the Flamel on the back of her red coat before shrugging it on. It felt like home, familiar. Maybe that was another reason why she liked these nightly excursions. It gave her an excuse to dress like this, whereas with her "daytime" persona it stood out too much in this world.

It was already half past 11, so she slipped out of the Tower without a problem through her usual route without running into anyone – they had probably retired to their own living spaces or in the case of Tony to the workshop already – only to emerge a few streets over in a metro station.

Once out of the area with the really high rise buildings, she took to the rooftops, jumping from one to the other, sometimes with a little help of alchemy, being careful to hide the evidence of the transmutations right after.

When she reached the top of the building of her destination she found that Daredevil was already there, all dressed ready for action.

"I thought you wanted to talk, are we going somewhere?" Ed inquired as she assessed the seemingly calm demeanor of the masked man.

"Trouble over at the docks. I'll be back soon. Just wait for me here," Matt urged in a flat voice. He noticed that her breathing was tighter. _A bandage around her chest? Is she injured?_

"Are you fucking kidding? I'm coming with," the blonde huffed indignantly. Sometimes she wished she was older, maybe then people would stop taking her lightly, or trying to shield her from the realities of the city that she was more than capable to handle.

Daredevil seemed indecisive for a second, trying to judge whether the alchemist would be in the way or not. With a sigh Ed made a run for the ledge in the right direction, jumping over to the next rooftop, effectively resolving the issue for him. With a resigned shake of his head, he followed with ease.

* * *

Perched on the top of a warehouse, they overlooked the two cars parked below them, where what very much seemed like a large scale illegal weapons trade was going on.

"You take the ones on the left, I'll take the ones on the right," Ed whispered almost inaudibly as to not give their position away, knowing that Matt heard her loud and clear. He still wasn't sure about the girl's involvement but nodded in understanding, and they made their move.

The ten or so criminals didn't know what had hit them. Ed took out her bunch in 60 seconds tops with a few well-placed punches and kicks with her auto-mail that guaranteed unconsciousness for the next few minutes for sure.

As she was tying them up, she glanced over to the other side where Daredevil was just about finishing up, dodging one last bullet before throwing the right hook that made the guy slump to the ground.

Ed went and alchemically bound them too, while Matt contacted Detective Mahoney, his trusted contact at the police to come and apprehend them.

They retreated out of sight while they waited for the police cars to show up, to make sure none of the crooks escaped till then. Not that Ed was worried, her constraints could really only be undone by cutting them, and she made sure none of the blokes had anything remotely sharp left on them.

Matt looked over at his partner, deep in thought. They haven't really had time to talk strategies, but Ed had done exactly as he had. Not going for the kill, or even trying to injure them much, just enough to neutralize them. She was also quick on her feet, very acrobatic, trained in martial arts from what he was able to tell with the little attention he was able to pay to her side of the battle. She also made it out of the fight without a scratch, not one hit landed on her. Even dodging bullets almost with the same ease as he did.

"What?" the blonde looked over at him, feeling his attention directed at her almost burn a hole in the back of her head.

"Nothing," Matt shook his head with a ghost of a smile. "They are here, we can go," he apparently heard the sirens before Ed could pick up on them.

With a last glance toward the docks, they left on a similar route that they had come, the police cars just rounding the corner on the street below.

* * *

Edeline sat down on the couch with an offered glass of water in hand, not sure what to make of the situation.

"So… I'm here because?" the alchemist tried to get the conversation flowing.

"You said some things last time that I wanted you to elaborate on," Matt began after shedding his mask.

"Specifically? I had said a lot of things," she inquired as she took a sip of water.

"About the ill-perceived sense of duty and guilt. You seemed like were speaking from experience," Daredevil sat down on the coffee table directly in front of her.

"Yeah, well, because I was," Ed chuckled darkly.

"Could you tell me more about yourself then?" he pleaded, wanting desperately to understand the things that made the person before him who she was.

"What is this, a fucking therapy session?" the girl grumbled, not really in the mood for soul-searching at the moment.

"If it is then it's more for my benefit than yours," Matt let a small, encouraging smile play at the corner of his mouth.

"The more appropriate question would be then why does Matthew Murdock, big shot lawyer, need the reassurance of a 16-year-old? Though I gotta warn you, according to my brother emotional support is not one of my strong suits, not even by a long shot," Ed smirked back.

Daredevil just scowled, either in disappointment for not getting his answers right away, or being beaten at his own game – interrogation was one of his strong suits, although his intentions were far from it in this case – or possibly from shock. He wasn't prepared for his full name to have been found out, although truth be told more than enough crumbs have been scattered here and there in their encounters, he just didn't think that Ed knew the means to piece them together.

"Your name came up when I googled Foggy regarding a big case you guys had against Wilson Fisk. I'm guessing there aren't many blind lawyers named Matt. Especially ones with close affiliation to Franklin Nelson. And you did tell me earlier you guys had a law practice together," the alchemist revealed, enjoying herself a little too much.

"You know, you said you have only been in this world for a month. Didn't realize you had internet where you come from," although he didn't have information on the contrary either, he just assumed.

"We don't actually, but I adapt quickly," she wasn't called a genius for no reason. Taking pity on him, she decided to share some more. "From what I was able to find out so far, my world somewhat resembles the 1920's era of this one, although there are many differences. For one alchemy, and our technological advancements took very different routes," Ed knocked a finger on her right arm to indicate what she meant.

As she glanced down that same motion guided her eyes to the newspaper beside Matt that she hadn't even noticed before, the headline of which caught her eye.

 _Fullmetal fantasies coming true? Is the newest vigilante on the streets of New York the real-life incarnation of the popular manga and anime or someone just took cosplaying a little bit too far?_

"What is it, Ed?" Daredevil instantly picked up on the frantic rise in the blonde's heartbeat.

She warily reached over for the paper and scanned through the article. When she found nothing linking the vigilante to her fake persona or the Avengers, relief washed over her, and she started laughing hysterically. Although true, the Avengers didn't need the added publicity regarding her or the crazed fans that she sure had, Ed wasn't quite sure why she was so worked up about this a minute ago. She wasn't here to stay, who cared if they found out?

And when that thought crossed her mind the laughing died down instantly, replaced by guilt and repugnance at her own actions. _I wasn't here to stay. Isn't it a little cruel to tug this string of hope in front of so many people? Playing into their fantasies, just to disappear again soon?_

"Ed?" Matt's voice was laced with worry since he had no idea what had just sent the blonde on the emotional rollercoaster. He grabbed the newspaper from her hands and ran his fingers through the article. The alchemist just watched in awe.

"Don't you need Braille for that?" the alchemist chuckled, coming back full circle in her emotional state with the distraction.

"Supersensitive touch," was all he added as an explanation as he finished reading.

"Why do I feel like there is a dirty joke in there somewhere?" Ed let out a shaky breath as the final remnants of tension left her.

"Are you alright?" Daredevil asked finally. Obviously, the piece was about Edeline, but he didn't know what to make of the speculations on her identity. He was never into comics or any of that sort of stuff – that was more like Foggy's thing – so he didn't know if the truth of it upset Ed or the lack of thereof.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just caught me off guard. Should have expected it actually. It was dumb to think that no one would pick it up with all the attention vigilantes and superheroes were getting lately," the blonde smiled reassuringly, really hoping that Matt didn't think that she was a nutjob.

"So the article is true then?" Murdock allowed the assumption.

Before she could answer though, Matt's phone went off, with a synthesized voice repeating "Foggy, Foggy, Foggy" over and over.

"Take it," the alchemist laughed out at the impeccable timing.

"What's up, Foggy?" he picked up and stood to walk over to the window.

"Have you read today's Bugle?" his former dorm mate's overexcited voice came through the speaker.

"As a matter of fact just put it down," Matt frowned as he turned back towards Ed who raised a brow questioningly.

"I know why Ed was so freaking familiar! Although obviously gender issues and what not but have you seen the piece on that new vigilante running around who is like an exact copy of the Fullmetal Alchemist? It's your Ed, isn't it? Edeline? That's why you wouldn't say anything about where you knew her from, right?" Foggy ranted on in one breath.

"Eh, Foggy? Now is not a good time," he tiredly rubbed at his face, desperately trying to figure out how to sidetrack him later from the idea that had implanted itself in his mind.

"Oh, sorry man… shit, it's 2 AM, I didn't realize. I was prepping for tomorrow's court and time just flew by. I couldn't even read today's paper until ten minutes ago," Nelson laughed out awkwardly.

"No problem, but I have to go now. Talk to you tomorrow?" Matt tried to appease him. It would be a shame if their recent bridge-mending were flushed down the toilet because of this.

"Sure. Sleep tight!" Foggy hung up with seemingly no enthusiasm lost. Which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your perspective.

Daredevil sighed finally as he walked back over, placing the phone down on the coffee table then sat right beside it.

"I'm guessing he somehow pieced it together?" Ed asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to tell him," he confided his dilemma.

"It's probably best to let him down easy somehow. I don't really care either way, but given that I will be going home the first chance I get, it's probably best not to get his hopes up. On that same note, I decided not to continue… well, whatever this was that I was doing for the past week. It was selfish and cruel of me," the alchemist declared with a frown that back home always seemed to had been etched on her face.

Funnily enough, it was with the Avengers that she started to let up sometimes, but whether that was due to their contribution or the fact that in the back of her mind she knew Al was finally alright was up for debate.

Matt didn't really understand how helping others was making her selfish and cruel.

"I'm giving them a hope that I'm ultimately going to take away, and that is really shit of me. I was bored and itching to do something other than browsing books or playing video games with the Avengers in the downtime because they have nothing better to do. But that doesn't mean that I have the right to waltz in here, making people believe that manga characters come to life – because seriously I'm probably a huge exception – also making them believe that they can depend on me, that I'll be here to protect them when that is not the case. Sooner or later I will find a way home, and when that comes, I'm going to take it, because maybe once again I'm selfish, but also because people depend on me back home. I can't abandon them," Ed ranted on with determination, barely stopping in between sentences to take a quick breath.

"Okay, I see your point. But I still don't think it was selfish wanting to do something good," Daredevil surmised.

"And thank you for that. But it's still probably best if I stopped before they get really attached to the idea of the Fullmetal Alchemist walking among them," the blonde smiled sadly.

"So you really do have your own show already?" Matt quipped with a cheeky smile that was really quite rare for him.

"More or less, the writer got some points wrong. My gender for one. Although can't blame her, I did pretend to be a boy for a long time," the blonde rolled her eyes. _Like right now too!_

"Will you hate me if I tell you that I never heard of the manga or anime before?" he probed, although he had a suspicion that Edeline wasn't that keen on her life story being out there for everyone to see.

"You just became one of my favorite people!" Ed laughed out.

"But that means I still know next to nothing about you," he circled back to his original question that the alchemist so eloquently dodged earlier.

"Tell you what. Equivalent exchange. You tell me the story of Matt Murdock, how he got into crime fighting and why he is brooding in a dark corner over his choices when no one is looking, and I tell you a derived version of my entirely a cluster-fuck of a life. And then you are free to get your hands on the manga or the Brotherhood version of the anime to find out the rest for yourself or let Foggy just tell you the whole thing, he seemed pretty into it," she offered her hand to shake on it.

"Deal," Matt took it without a problem.

Of course, starting to open up wasn't exactly that easy, but after a few breaths, he began. He talked almost an hour about his early life, how he became blind, his father's murder, Stick, Elektra, why he started going out in a mask to help the people of Hell's Kitchen. The unpublicized details of his battle against Wilson Fisk, the Punisher, always rounding back to his dilemma with the level of corruption and how his methods seemed futile. How seemingly anyone but him thought that killing was okay. It was really like a confessional, liberating that he could go into more detail than with Father Lantom.

Ed listened without interruption until he got it all out of his system.

"If you are looking for someone to sanction the taking of lives then I'm not your person," the blonde said finally with a sigh.

"I figured that much," Daredevil gave her a tight smile.

"In alchemy, there is one most defining principle, and that is equivalent exchange. To gain something, something of equal value must be lost. There is no equivalence for human life. There is absolutely nothing you could give to bring someone back from the dead. So I refuse to take the life of another," Ed declared with certainty. "It may be naïve, I have been called childish and worse for that notion. Still, I will stand by it till the end."

Matt nodded in understanding.

"That isn't to say that I don't understand your dilemma. But even if you killed those criminals, someone is just going to take their place, it's an endless cycle. It's the system that you've got to change. Find people you trust, people who you know wouldn't stray from the path if they can help it and back them, keep them on that path," the alchemist smiled fondly at the memory of Roy. _He is someone like that._

"And even then it won't be easy," Edeline continued on telling him about the corruption that was running high up in their military, the plans of the homunculi to turn the whole country into a Philosopher's Stone and what it took to defeat them, making sure to touch on the Colonel and his vengeance that would have devoured him if they hadn't stopped him.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not some saint. I did some things in the past that I'm not proud of. Spent the last five years trying to set them right, atone for my sins. Still am," Ed tiptoed around the single most defining moment of her life.

"I learned my lesson the hard way that there is nothing that could measure up to the value of a human soul. In my world, in alchemy, there is one great taboo," she started tentatively after a while. "Human transmutation. My brother and I broke it when we tried to bring our mother back from the dead. It's impossible of course, but I was too cocky. At the age of eleven, I thought I could do what no adult had successfully tried before. And Al suffered for it."

"He died?" Daredevil asked solemnly. That would have explained a lot of the guilt.

"No… no… I just condemned him to an existence worse than death," Ed stated, but clearly, that needed that some further explanation. "I lost my left leg, he lost his whole body as toll, because the transmutation rebounded. I sacrificed my right arm to pull his soul back at the last second and bound it to a suit of armor. He had to endure not eating, sleeping, being capable of feeling anything for five years."

"I take it you found a solution in the end," Matt dared to conclude. He had the feeling the girl would have been way more distraught if that weren't the case.

"I joined the military at the age of twelve, after undergoing the auto-mail surgery and recovery, to access their resources to find a way to bring his body back. We thought the Philosopher's Stone was the answer. We couldn't have been more wrong. It was during our search that we stumbled upon the truth of how the Stones are actually made and the conspiracy that threatened our whole country. In the end, we managed to save Amestris, and I finally reunited Al with his body, only to pay the price by coming to this world," the alchemist shook her head at herself. In the end, she was still way too overconfident in her alchemy it seemed.

Feeling too jittery with just sitting around, she got up and walked over to the windows, letting the little moonlight filtering in to wash over her.

"I refused to use a Stone but had a great plan… sacrificing my alchemy for him. In all honesty that should have been enough for an equivalent exchange. But Truth just doesn't work that way. I make the same mistakes over and over again, thinking that I'm in control when I'm not when it comes to alchemy. Trying to play God," Ed sighed finally as she placed a hand on the window. _I'm no God, I'm just a pathetic human being who_ _couldn't even save a little girl…_

"Do you believe in God?" Matt asked. He could relate to this concept of Truth she was talking about, being a Catholic himself he often felt out of control, at the mercy of God when he wanted to make a difference. Trying to decide how far was he allowed to go.

"Ha! No. Can't really say I do," the alchemist laughed out darkly, deciding to just flop back on the couch, starting to feel exhausted. It had been a very long night. "I'm a woman of science."

He was perplexed by that admission. Seemed to contradict her earlier words.

"Alchemical Truth is no god. I don't believe that if you pray and polish the altar enough times or confess your sins, then all your wishes would come true, or you would be absolved of the responsibility. I believe in equivalent exchange. If you want something, you have to work for it yourself, but will also have to be prepared for the sacrifices it will take. The question is, what are you willing to sacrifice and whether that is enough in exchange or not. And whether you will be able to live with yourself after the fact. I obviously made my choices and am suffering the consequences. It might not have been the easiest or most direct way, but I wouldn't have been able to look myself in the mirror if I had used other people's souls to fix my mistake. No matter who they might have been. And I'm saying that with the knowledge that the Stones that were already in existence were mostly made from death row criminals."

 _That was oddly enlightening._ – Matt thought. Selfish really was the last adjective he would have used to describe the girl. He couldn't really blame her for trying to revive her dead mother either, however misguided that was.

It was really late, past 4 AM, and Ed couldn't help but stifle a yawn.

"Sorry to keep you up so long. You need your sleep, still growing and all," the blind man cut the conversation short, with just a hint of guilt. Despite her vast experience and wisdom, she was still a child in the end, trying to shoulder too much of the shit the world had thrown at her.

"Hey! I'm not small! Just fun sized!" the alchemist exclaimed with a half-hearted pout, slumping back further against the couch. Matt chuckled at her response.

"Didn't mean to insinuate anything," he backpedaled. "You are welcome to stay the night if you don't want to go back at this hour."

"I might just take you up on that," she yawned again as she lied down on the couch. Matt threw an afghan over her, in all honesty, a bit in awe of the girl.

* * *

True to her promise, after returning to the Tower that morning Ed never went out as the Fullmetal Alchemist on the streets or had contact with Matt again.


	14. Fantastic news

_**Chapter 14: Fantastic news**_

* * *

In the meanwhile, when her attention wasn't occupied with one adventure or another, Ed spent her time researching, but she soon realized that reading about the scientific works of Henri Becquerel, Marie and Pierre Curie, Ernest Rutherford and Hans Geiger on radiation could only take you so far. Especially when on related topics you find the legacy that Edward Teller had left behind as the father of the hydrogen bomb and the other disastrous applications radioactive elements could have.

Edeline soon came to the conclusion that in order to move forward she needed to have discussions with people who were experts on these topics because her mind was taking her to places that – similarly to the Philosopher's Stone – would sooner or later lead her to quit this line of research altogether. The alchemist in no way wanted to accidentally invent or theorize something that could then be used as a weapon of mass destruction.

In order to do this though she needed to have some sort of formal education – or at least the appearance of. Based on the research she did on the education system of this country in her opinion, she already had the necessary knowledge to earn at least a Master's degree in Chemistry, and with that, she could enroll into a Ph.D. program, through which she could get in touch with just about anyone in the scientific community. The only problem was that formally she did not exist in this world. She was a freaking manga character. A work of fiction.

It still infuriated her immensely. Even more so after she saw the monstrosity that the first anime adaption was through the end. That is until she found out at the finale that in that version she also crossed over to this world, although to an entirely different time period. After that she frantically watched the Conqueror of Shamballa movie, hoping it would give her an idea how to get back but instead laughed hysterically at how ludicrous it was. She, in fact, laughed so hard that her ribs hurt for days after that.

Fortunately, Fury's forethought to set up her fake identity as Edeline Krueger helped immensely with moving things smoothly along. The director went even as far as suggesting to actually fake her degree for her, but Ed wanted none of that. She wanted to earn it with her own power, _thank you very much_. The alchemist only asked that an opportunity be provided for her in the form of some exams so that she could get that degree without actually going through the years of studying. She hated the slow paced and boring set up most formal education systems had.

So that is how Ed happened to be running across Empire State University campus on an early May morning to get to her appointment with the dean on time – where it would be decided if she could just take the tests – when she suddenly bumped into someone, knocking his books out of his hand.

"Sorry!" the guy the blonde bumped into called after her sarcastically.

"Watch where you are going!" she yelled back but suddenly stopped in her tracks and spun around on her heel. "That voice! Y-you are Sp…" the pointed at him with apprehension.

"Edeline!" the person interjected with equal force as he recognized her even with the altered appearance. She wore her hair in a high pony-tail instead of her usual braid and had the contacts in. The alchemist thanked her luck that goth fashion existed, since this way the long gloves that she wore to conceal her auto-mail didn't seem weird even in warm weather. "Would you keep your voice down?" Spidey looked around in a panic whether anyone was paying attention to their exchange.

"What are you doing here?" Ed asked in shock.

"I study here, moron!" the young man retorted rolling his eyes. "What about you?"

"I don't have time for this!" the alchemist exclaimed suddenly remembering the meeting she was about to be late to. "I have an appointment with the dean!" she broke out into a run again. "Wait for me! We have to talk!" the blonde threw in over her shoulder at the dumbfounded brown-haired boy as she entered through the massive doors of the building of her destination.

* * *

Thirty minutes later she came out with a huge grin on her face, her steps almost having a little bounce to them as she trotted down the stairs.

"What was that all about?" the young man asked leaning against the column in front of the door where he waited patiently for Ed to come back.

"Meet the soon to be Master of Sciences in Chemistry," she gloated as she motioned to herself with a little bow.

"What? How? Why?" Spidey blurted out in quick succession.

"I will be taking a set of exams next week to get my degree so I can enroll in the Ph.D. programme in the Fall," Ed explained. "Come on! You know I have the brains and knowledge for it," she winked at the speechless guy in front of her. "But I think introductions are in order first. Hi! I'm Edeline Krueger, and you are?" the blonde smirked with a wicked grin as she extended her hand towards him.

"Peter Parker…" he mumbled as he took the girl's offered hand before he could stop himself.

"Nice to meet you, _Peter_!" the alchemist smiled triumphantly when she saw the boy's horrified expression. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," she added with sincerity. "Care to show me around?"

* * *

"So, what are you studying?" Ed asked the quiet boy to break the silence between them as they walked around campus.

"Biophysics," Peter replied curtly, still taken aback by being tricked into revealing his identity.

"Come on, don't be like that, I would have found out sooner or later since we will both be attending here," the blonde huffed as she stared in front of herself.

"I suppose…" the young man sighed heavily.

"It's nice to have a fellow science enthusiast," Ed shrugged, peering up at the brown-haired boy from the corner of her eye.

"So, what's your plan?" Spidey asked the blond girl strolling beside him.

"Still on my quest to find something that could substitute the Philosopher's Stone as a fee. Figured having academic ties wouldn't hurt if I wanted to get in contact with scientists on the matter," she explained.

"Just don't go telling them about the Philosopher's Stone… they would jeer you in seconds," Peter chuckled to himself imagining the scene.

"I know… I'm not stupid…" the alchemist pouted averting her eyes.

"You know you should probably meet with Reed Richards," he added after a few minutes of contemplation and silence.

"Who is that?" Ed asked perplexed.

"Remember the Fantastic Four I told you about?" Peter inquired then continued when Ed nodded. "He is the leader of them. He is an expert on extra-dimensional travel, space travel, time travel, energy generation, mutations just to name a few. A genius really."

"Thanks," the blonde smiled up at him brightly. It seemed that the breakthroughs in her search always came when she was around the boy, and she was immensely grateful to him for that.

"Uhm… no problem at all…" Peter blushed embarrassedly. "You hungry?" he asked as he noticed the time on his watch. They had been walking around on campus for almost two hours.

"Very!" the alchemist chuckled just as her stomach grumbled stressing her statement.

"Come! My treat," Spidey offered with a huge grin, forgetting just how big Ed's appetite could be.

"Oh, you are so gonna regret that!" she muttered under her breath as they made their way towards the cafeteria.

* * *

"So how did it go?" Steve asked the blonde as she plopped down on the couch after returning to the Tower.

"According to plan, exams next week," Ed sighed heavily as she was deep in thought, not really concerned with the meeting she had with the dean.

"What's the matter?" the super soldier inquired given the scowl that was occupying the alchemist's face.

"Do you guys know someone called Reed Richards?" she asked finally after a few seconds.

"Heard of him yes, why?" the Captain inquired perplexed at where Ed might have heard the name.

"I need to meet him," she stated simply, not going into details.

"I gathered that much…" Steve probed further.

"I hear he is an on expert on extra-dimensional travel, time travel, energy generation, mutations and the sorts. You know all the goodies that might be involved in my situation. He might be able to help figure out how I could cross the Gate," Ed rolled her eyes as she explained.

"He is also a bit eccentric. People skills are not his forte. Although he loves a scientific challenge just as any genius," the blond man mused realizing that this conundrum might just pique the scientist's interest.

"That's fine, I can work with that," Ed grinned confidently.

* * *

"How fascinating!" Mr. Fantastic exclaimed after Edeline explained her dilemma to him. Reed's mind was already running a hundred miles an hour on the implications of an entirely different dimension from theirs, the nine realms of the World Tree and the Negative Zone. He was reasonably sure that Ed's world was separate from all of these based on what she had just told them and their explorations in the N-Zone.

"So you are saying you are from a world that is connected to ours by a Gate guarded by some omnipotent being called Truth?" Sue Storm asked with disbelief as she tried to make sense of what she just heard.

"Well, you could call it many things, the Universe, All and One, but it also always emphasizes that it is me at the same time too," Ed pointed out.

"God?" the Invisible Woman asked for clarification.

"Not the bearded guy you guys usually imagine with the Christian and related canons," the alchemist stressed her point with a roll of her eyes.

"So you want me to find a way to open the Gate from this side?" Reed inquired about the nature of the assistance needed from him.

"No. I know exactly how to open it, I have to perform human transmutation on myself. The problem is the toll that is required to pass through the Gate," the alchemist amended patiently.

"How is this alchemy work again exactly?" to think that a whole different type of science evolved in Ed's world was beyond mind-boggling.

"Alchemists can channel the planet's tectonic energy to change the form and molecular makeup of things. It requires the knowledge of the chemical, physical and other properties of the material you want to transmute, deconstruction then reconstruction using the energy you channel," Ed revealed.

"How is that possible, I mean, drawing the energy?" the scientist probed further, intent on understanding the mechanics of the process.

"How is it possible that you can stretch your body to the size of Canada?" Ed retorted with a snort.

"True… but that is because the structure of my cells changed due to cosmic radiation," Mr. Fantastic chuckled at that.

"Alchemists need their Gate to Truth to perform alchemy," she said finally with a sigh.

"Does that mean that people on Earth don't have a connection to Truth since we can't do alchemy?" the scientist mused out loud.

"My theory is that they do, it's just that they can draw on a different aspect of it. Creativity if you will. See images of other worlds. Get ideas from there. That is how it is possible I think for my whole life to be on display in your world in the form of a fictional story. The author got the inspiration from what she saw through her Gate," Ed elucidated her thoughts on the matter.

"Interesting…" he paused deep in thought tapping a finger on his mouth. "I still think there is some sort of genetic component to all this. But something that occurred naturally, more like the X-Men here and not how we four got our powers."

"Yeah, the scientists in S.H.I.E.L.D. theorized that too, although they couldn't find anything to back it up. All they concluded that my genetic makeup would make me be from around the early 1900s on this planet, with Middle-Eastern ancestry from another 400 years back. And that I was definitely not an inhuman," Ed summarized what Jemma told her.

"Well, yes, inhumans have an alien gene component, but yours is different, the genes that allow alchemy mutated naturally in your world in my understanding. Do you mind if we do some tests too?" Reed inquired excitedly. _This could be one of his most prominent findings to date._

"Does it require needles?" she asked warily. She absolutely wanted none of that.

"Didn't the agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. take blood from you?" Richards questioned with surprise.

"No, I wouldn't let them," the blonde shook her head fiercely.

"Well, that explains why they couldn't go past those conclusions. Blood is always a more preferable source of DNA than hair or saliva. So much more information can be gained. About your immune system, proteins, antigens…" the scientist went on a roll.

"All right, all right!" Ed cut in, she didn't really want to hear all the biological mumbo-jumbo when she was the guinea pig.

"So you will let us take some blood?" Reed asked with full of expectation.

"Uhm…" Ed hesitated. She really didn't want to do it, but it was sort of equivalent exchange. She gives them her blood, they help with finding a suitable energy source as toll instead of the Philosopher's Stone. Simple as that. "Fine. But don't be surprised if you get smacked in the face by accident through sheer reflex," she grumbled.

"Johnny and Ben can hold you down if you like," Richards suggested with humor. Ed nodded not really caring if they did or not. Just let's get this over with already…

As if on cue the two aforementioned team members came in to help.

"Hey, do you know you look like a slightly younger and less uptight version of Captain America?" Ed quipped with a cheeky smile when she spotted the younger Storm sibling. Based on his facial expression the Human Torch couldn't decide if that was meant as a compliment which just made the alchemist laugh out loud. "The blue definitely suits you better," she added with an overly serious face.

"Uhh... thanks? I guess?" Johnny was beyond stumped. Not only because of her comments – which he couldn't figure out if it was sarcasm, flirting or what – but he couldn't imagine why they would need Ben and him restraining such a teeny-tiny little girl.

It ended up taking the combined force of the Human Torch and the Thing to keep Ed from flailing as Mr. Fantastic took that vial of blood.

"So tell me more about this toll you need, what did you use to travel to our world?" Richards asked while they waited for the different tests and analysis to run on the machines. He will take a closer look himself at the sample too later.

"Like I said my deal wasn't about coming here, it was my price to pay. I tried to trade my alchemy for brother's body from the Gate. In our world, the Philosopher's Stone is what could be used as the ultimate fee. It amplifies the alchemist's abilities. But that is out of the question," the alchemist explained.

"Why is that?" he questioned further.

"It requires human sacrifices to make," the blonde stated grimly.

"Human sacrifices, huh?" the scientist pondered.

"Human souls or life force to be more exact. A lot of it," she stressed her point with a scowl.

"Yes, I understand the aversion," Reed paced slowly back and forth as he thought the possible alternatives over.

"I have started to study radiation and fusion energy since alchemical knowledge is practically non-existent here to see if could be an alternative, but haven't gotten too far with it yet," Ed amended trying to fill the awkward silence while the man was thinking.

"Have you talked with Tony Stark about this yet?" Mr. Fantastic asked finally.

"Tony, why?" she questioned with one of her own perplexedly.

"Well, he invented the Arc Reactor, which is based on cold fusion, without the adverse effects normal thermal-fission or hot-fusion reactors have, for example, heat generation and radiation pollution, doesn't need big cooling systems," Richards animatedly described the concept behind the technology.

"Yeah, that's what runs the Avengers Tower, but I can't really take something so huge with me to the Gate," the blonde replied when it clicked that she read somewhere about the clean energy the Tower was using, by-passing the energy grid of the city.

"No, no, no, he has made a small version of it, it powers his Iron Man suits," he stated as a matter of fact for clarification.

"Really?" Ed mentally face-palmed herself. The solution might have been right at her doorstep all along. She hadn't spoken much with Stark though after the fiasco with her auto-mail.

"Theoretically what you need is just a high-concentration self-sustaining energy source, if it is at all possible to cross the Gate without actual life force being used up, I think this is your way to go."

* * *

 **A/N: To get awarded a doctorate in most programmes you have to actually contribute something new to the field you are studying. To find out what is new or not takes a lot of research, that's why I didn't have Ed get her Ph.D. right away. (At least in my country that's how it works, I don't know about the US.)**

 **About Spider-Man: Gwen Stacy is dead already by this point, and MJ is only his friend, not his love interest yet. And yes Doctor Octopus, an expert in radiation long dead that's why Peter didn't suggest him. (I'm kind of mixing MCU and Toby Maguire Spider-Man)**

 **I am really hoping that my mumbo-jumbo on the arc reactor (and possibly that whole talk with Reed) was correct… I'm not really a science type of person.**


	15. Do you have the X-factor?

_**Chapter 15: Do you have the X-factor?**_

* * *

Edeline strode back into the Tower's lobby, making her way to the elevator with determination and hurry to speak with Stark as soon as possible on the miniature arc reactor that could be her ticket back to Amestris. She was so focused on the task at hand that she almost missed the woman leaving the building. Almost.

When Ed looked up for a split second, she saw her own face stare back at her before the woman quickly changed her appearance and broke out into a run towards the exit.

"Dammit Envy! You are alive?" the alchemist exclaimed as she sprinted after the mysterious person. _How is this possible? I saw him commit suicide in the dungeon below Father's lair! And how did he follow me to this world?_ – and endless other questions reeled through her mind as she desperately tried not to lose the intruder in the busy street of New York.

"Hey! Get back here!" she yelled after him as she tried to run even faster, but he didn't flinch or turn back, just kept going. Unfortunately, the Homunculus vanished after the next corner, probably assuming the identity of some random dude that he saw go past him.

"Dammit!" Ed cursed out again, stomping her left foot down, earning herself a few disapproving stares from the pedestrians as she frantically looked around for some sort of clue as to who might be the culprit. _Why? What are you after?_

The blonde concluded that she was not going to be able to find Envy in this crowd anyway, so she decided to get back to the Tower as soon as possible to try and find out what his objective was in the first place.

"You are back already? Did you forget something?" Steve asked with surprise as the elevator ping signaled the girl's arrival. "Did you change?" he added perplexedly when he noticed the different outfit on the teen compared to what she had been wearing when she left just minutes ago.

"That wasn't me earlier! It was Envy!" Ed cried out in frustration. "Did you talk with him? What did he want? Which rooms did he go into?" she questioned full of desperation in her voice.

"Wait, wait! Envy as in the shapeshifting Homunculus?" the super soldier inquired with bewilderment evident in his wide eyes.

"Yes!" Ed replied forcefully not having the patience for this conversation.

"I thought he had died…" the Captain trailed off as he recalled the scenes from the anime.

"I thought so too!" the alchemist cut in. _I don't have time for this!_

"Wait… there is another explanation," Steve stated in all seriousness. "Mystique," he uttered like it was self-evident.

"Who is _Mystique_?" Ed tapped with her foot impatiently with a scowl on her face.

"A mutant woman who can change her appearance," the Captain explained. Fury briefed them a couple of times on the battles the X-Men had with the other mutants, but their intervention had never been required before since Professor Xavier and his team usually handled it well.

"Mutant as in the X-Men?" Ed recalled the many nights when they sat together, and all the different types of superhumans this world had to offer were explained to her.

"More like the enemy of the X-Men…" Steve trailed off. They had a very dangerous adversary on their hands if it indeed were the blue-skinned mutant behind this.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. pull up the lobby camera image on the flat screen," Ed commanded the AI. She was getting pretty used to all these technological advancements. "I ran into our intruder just as she was leaving."

The video feed came up on the TV, and the computer program started rewinding it so that they could find the exact moment.

"There!" Ed exclaimed as she recognized herself. Well, the person pretending to be her, then seconds later she could be seen entering too from the street.

"That's definitely Mystique. See the blue scale-like things around her skin as she shifts?" Steve pointed out. He was right, Ed had to admit, Envy's transformation was more like an electric current running over him, but she was too stunned to notice the difference when it happened.

"Where has she been in the Tower?" Ed got back to her original and most important question. She needed to find out their objective even if the culprit wasn't Envy as she had initially thought.

"She was only briefly here, didn't even talk with anyone, went to your room…" Ed didn't wait for the rest of the explanation and started for said area. "And left in a matter of minutes after…" Steve called after the already retreating figure of the blond alchemist.

"Dammit!" she cursed again as she sprinted faster when she realized what Mystique might have been after. The only thing in her room that would be of any prevalence was her State Alchemist silver pocket watch. _What did she want with it? Why the fuck didn't I just take it with me like I always used to?_ – she admonished herself in thought.

When she entered the room, she went straight for her drawer that she had alchemically sealed to keep her pocket watch safe. It was busted open. The alchemist frantically scanned the contents over, but the thief had found what they were looking for. _Dammit!_ Just as she had thought. She slammed her hands on the top of the dresser forcefully, her right hand leaving a dent in the surface. Ed spun around quickly as she pushed herself away from the furniture, bringing her left hand to her chin as she paced deep in thought.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., you didn't notice either that that wasn't me?" the blonde asked pointedly looking towards the ceiling since she associated the computer voice with that direction.

"My protocol doesn't require for every entrant to be scanned over if I recognize them," the AI informed impassively.

"Well, from now on it does!" Ed exclaimed forcefully.

"I did notice the intruder leave with a silver pocket watch shaped object," F.R.I.D.A.Y. supplemented trying to be helpful.

"You don't say?!" Ed laughed out sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "And the fact that they had to force open the drawer didn't tip you off?"

"It is not in my programming to judge the behavior of the inhabitants of the Tower," the AI answered with a hint of humor. _Stark is to blame for this for sure. I don't even want to know what he does in his alone time!_

Just then, Steve, Natasha, and Wanda filed into her room, looking concerned. Barton and Bruce were out, and Tony was probably in his workshop oblivious to everything that took place, otherwise, surely they would have come to see what the commotion was all about too.

"Mystique took my silver pocket watch," Ed stated in an eerily calm voice. _That bitch is so going to get it!_

"What use would she have for it?" the Black Widow was the first to voice their questions.

"The pocket watch is foremostly a proof of my State credentials in Amestris, but it also enhances alchemical abilities through the arrays carved into them…" the blonde trailed off. _I still think_ _there is some sort of genetic component to all this. But something that occurred naturally, more like the X-Men here and not how we four got our powers._ – Reed's words came unbidden to her mind on the genetic origins of her alchemy. "She must have been eavesdropping somehow on my meeting with the Fantastic Four! She thinks the watch will enhance a mutant's abilities too!" she exclaimed full of horror. _But just how long has she been observing me to even know about the properties of the timepiece? Scratch that… those fucking anime…_

"You know she doesn't only transform her organic appearance but can create the appearance of clothes and other materials out of her own body, even items like glasses, zippers, identity cards, handbags," the female assassin supplemented being fully briefed on the villain's capabilities.

"She is practically an alchemist, just worse!" Ed cried out in disgust. _And now she has my pocket watch to complement all that!_

"Wanda, get in contact with Charles Xavier. Natasha, you inform Fury," Steve instructed as he went into full Captain-mode. They had a real supernatural crisis on their hands.

* * *

An hour later, the jet with the entire Avengers team currently in New York and Director Fury onboard landed on the helipad at the X-Mansion in Salem Center.

"Welcome, friends!" greeted an old bald man in a wheelchair accompanied by an African-American woman with long white hair. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier," the leader of the X-Men introduced himself to Ed since all the others were already familiar with him through one way or another.

The alchemist cocked a brow at the older man. She definitely wasn't expecting the famed mutant to be restricted in such ways.

 _Do not worry, child, just as your disabilities don't cripple you, mine don't hold me back either. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve._ – the blonde heard the soothing baritone voice in her head which made her gasp out loud in surprise at the man smiling at her kindly.

"Get out of my fucking head, geezer!" she grunted taken aback by the gross violation of her privacy. Few things could piss her off more than someone trying to mess with her head.

"I might be old, but don't let that fool you either," Xavier switched to voiced communication so as not to leave the others out of the conversation with a twinkle in his eyes. "My colleague here is Ororo Munroe."

"To answer one of your other concerns. No, you are not a mutant. Not in our world's terms, anyway. If you were, I would have sensed you already through Cerebro in the 1.5 month time you have been on this planet," Charles supplemented as he turned around with his electric wheelchair to head back into the mansion. _Cerebro is a psychotronic device that amplifies the brainwaves of the user. It enables me to detect traces of others worldwide, especially mutants._ – the telepath revealed as an explanation to Ed mentally much to her dismay.

"As such, I do not believe your pocket watch could enhance Mystique's abilities since alchemy is on an entirely different effect-mechanism than mutant powers. She is a foe to be feared nonetheless. Do not underestimate her!" the wise man warned.

"There is still the possibility that I am wrong about this. If I understand correctly, we need to retrieve the stolen item either way. And let us hope that she is not working for Magneto this time," he added looking at them, resting his gaze on the metal arm and leg of Ed, the Iron Man suit and Steve's vibranium shield. Fortunately, Natasha's guns can easily be switched to plastic ones, and Barton's arrows were already made from materials other than metals.

"Ah, Logan!" the Professor greeted a brute looking man with major sideburns on his face. "Would you care to show our guests the rooms they could stay in for the time they are here to plan our strategy to find and defeat Mystique?"

The man named Logan eyed their bunch up and down with evident wariness, then with something that resembled a growl he started for the stairs, effectively showing the way without saying a word.

* * *

After they got settled, all of them were lead to Cerebro to meet with Xavier. Going through the halls, Ed noticed a bunch of kids around her age peeking through the cracks of their room doors to take a look at the newcomers. One girl was so immersed in the staring that when Ed caught her eye, she fell right _through_ the wood in surprise as if it weren't even there. Fortunately, after her time in this world, these kinds of abilities weren't shocking to the alchemist anymore. _She is probably able to change the frequency at which her atoms resonate or the space between her molecules…_ – Ed thought to herself as she smiled awkwardly at the girl who scrambled back into her room embarrassedly.

The superroom that was Cerebro was nothing like the blonde would have imagined. It was a vast spherical space under the mansion, the walls covered with some kind of rectangular plates, with a platform bridge of sorts reaching out into the middle, where a terminal with a helmet interface took place.

"Locating Raven won't be that hard…" the Professor explained as he wheeled in. "My problem is the uncertainty whether Magneto is with her or not. He has designed a helmet that is capable of blocking the telepathic signals, and to my knowledge, he wears it all the time."

"You mentioned earlier that metals are a problem around him," Ed looked at Charles. "Is he able to manipulate all metals or just magnetizable ones like his name suggests?"

"His powers revolve around magnetism, yes," Xavier confirmed.

"Then I suppose transmuting my auto-mail to non-magnetic metals like aluminum and copper should do the trick, right?" Ed smirked confidently, she has done this tactic before against Scar, rendering his destructive powers useless since he couldn't guess what metal besides steel the alchemist had used.

"You can do that?" the Professor asked, but of course, he instantly saw the images through telepathy from Ed's mind.

"Yes, but it's a last resort. Changing the properties of the metals will cause the fine inner-mechanics of the auto-mail to get messed up. Also aluminum and copper are in no way as durable. We would have to end the fight pretty quickly after that," the alchemist disclosed.

"If we do happen to encounter Erik, you just need to knock off his helmet. I can incapacitate him from there without a problem," the man in the wheelchair instructed earning an incredulous stare from the blonde. Charles just tapped a finger on his temple indicating that it did not involve any kind of physical intervention.

"What about Mystique?" Captain America interjected since they primarily needed to come up with a strategy against the shapeshifter as she was the enemy they were confident would be involved.

"Besides her uncanny shapeshifting, she has superhuman agility and reflexes. Fighting her will require equal capabilities and probably trapping her somehow is the way to go," Charles suggested.

"We need Spider-Man, I say," Ed smirked thinking of her friend Peter and his spidey-sense, reflexes and also the disgusting gooey stuff he could shoot out of his wrists, then looking over horrified to Xavier who has probably now found out the identity of the vigilante hero. A secret that she vowed to keep. The blonde sighed in relief when Xavier shook his head oh so slightly that only she noticed that he wouldn't reveal that piece of information. "Uhm… I will contact him," she said as she took her leave out of Cerebro where she was sure there was no cell reception.

"What? You have Spider-Man on speed-dial now?" Natasha teased her earning herself a titanium-gold middle-finger from the retreating figure of the teen. A nasty way of cursing without words she picked up from the not too friendly inhabitant's of Earth but enjoyed it very much.

* * *

"Either way let's aim for capture, _not_ kill," Ed heard the Professor address the group as she walked back into the spherical room after her conversation with the Parker boy, explaining the situation and why they needed his help. To tell the Truth, Spider-Man was beyond the Moon and back to be able to work with not only the Avengers but the X-Men too. He would be arriving later that night.

"I thought that was the plan from the _beginning_ ," the alchemist looked with fierce disapproval, mainly at the Black Widow and Hawkeye who were the known assassins in the group.

"Ed…" Natasha tried to begin but got cut off immediately.

"I don't want to hear it, we are not killing anyone!" the teen's personal philosophy on the matter was unwavering. Seeing the conviction in not just words but in thoughts as well, Xavier had an immense amount of respect for the strong character the young woman before him possessed.

"I'm with Edeline on this. There is no need for unnecessary bloodshed," Captain America agreed, placing a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"As for the team…" the alchemist looked at everyone. "I think Stark and Banner should sit this out. With that bulky metal suit, you are just about as useful against Mystique or Magneto as Colonel Mustang is in the rain," Ed snorted at her own joke as she turned to Tony. "And sorry Bruce, but we really don't need you hulking out on us."

"Hey!" the billionaire protested to being written off just like that with an indignant cry.

"That's alright. All this mind reading stuff had me on edge anyway," Banner smiled timidly avoiding the telepath's gaze.

"As for you Captain…" Ed glanced at the man who was almost a brother to her with an apologetic look in her eyes. "The vibranium-steel shield is also a no go, just to be safe."

"I can fight without it," the super soldier stated confidently.

With that Fury excused himself, trusting the youngsters to handle the situation competently, taking the Hulk and Iron Man with him.

"Well then, let's find our mystery woman, shall we?" Professor Xavier announced as he slid the helmet on his head and began concentrating on the mutants of the world to locate that one particular blue-skinned shapeshifter who was giving them all this trouble.


	16. Lost and found

_**Chapter 16: Lost and found**_

* * *

The wait was making Edeline anxious. She was used to rushing into battle with the confidence that her alchemy could solve just about anything. The worst she could encounter was another alchemist or a Homunculus, and well Scar but essential he was an alchemist too, he just hadn't been aware of it for a long time. She was a hot-head, she knew that. But with all these new unknown factors she couldn't afford to be that if she ever wanted to get back home in one piece.

The Professor found Mystique among a couple of other mutants, known as Avalanche, Toad, and Pyro in a building located in a rundown warehouse district just outside Salem Center, which must have been their lair. No sign of Magneto but they already knew that that meant nothing.

Spider-Man finally arrived just under two hours later.

"Remind me to never take the bus again, will ya?" the arachnid-like boy joked.

"You rode the bus in that outfit?" the alchemist quirked her brow at her friend who just shrugged it off. He probably didn't want to take any chances with someone connecting his real identity coming here with Spider-Man.

After they briefed him on what they had learned so far, the team decided that they would make a move that evening under the disguise of the night. First off, they would try and get the watch back without actual confrontation. Spidey goes in, snatches it up with his web, and he is out before anyone notices him. If that didn't work, they would move in on the all-out fight.

* * *

Steve, Wanda, Natasha, and Edeline had the building surrounded ready to bust in case something went wrong, while Clint gave them long-range support from the top of the other building. Xavier was in the car with Ororo not too far away in case he was needed. Spider-Man was already in position, clinging to the side of the warehouse by one of the higher up small windows.

Captain America gave the go signal to the wall-crawler, who ducked right in the opening without a sound.

Unfortunately, it was loud and clear that simply snagging the damn thing wasn't an option. The blue woman and her three accomplices were standing around a table that had the object that they sought after on it. It seemed like they were trying to get it open but with no luck.

"Will need your help guys…" Spidey whispered into his earpiece that they all got to keep in comm during the operation.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I think this doesn't belong to you…" Peter playfully admonished as he shot his webbing out to pull the pocket watch to himself. Only to be snatched back by the mutant going by the name of Toad with his _tongue_. With an evil chuckle, he gave it back to his blue-skinned boss just as the rest of the team broke in and rushed in through the two entrances on both sides of the building with Ed and Natasha on one, Steve and Wanda on the other side.

"Eww…" the sound escaped unbidden from Edeline's mouth as she saw the wet sticky tongue on her possession. "I definitely get that nickname!"

"Well, well, if it isn't the little alchemist and the gang…" Mystique began with a diabolic grin on her otherworldly face, her yellow eyes piercing through the room at the golden orbs of Ed.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE DAMMIT!?" Ed burst out in full volume as she transmuted her right hand into a blade with a clap.

"Are you looking for this?" the shapeshifter teased by dangling the watch from its chain in front of her.

"Give it back! You have no use for it anyway," the alchemist tried to negotiate, but in all truth, she wanted to kick Mystique's butt real bad. _Just give me a reason!_

"We will see about that!" Raven smiled wicked as she hid the timepiece between her breasts under her white sleeveless dress that almost seemed to be one with her skin.

"How do you know about it anyway?" Ed questioned further as she was preparing to launch at the woman before her.

"You have got quite the fans, little girl!" the red-haired mutant cocked her head towards Toad who licked his clammy mouth with a lewd grin. _Damn the freaking anime already!_ – Ed cursed to herself groaning in revulsion at the thought inwardly.

"Stop calling me little!" she cried out again in reflex. "And just… plain gross…" the blonde's face scrunched up in disgust as she charged for Mystique.

Just then the other guy going by the alias Avalanche started to shake the ground under neat them so that they would lose their footing, but the alchemist hopped from one debris to the other that emerged from the ground with ease having previously encountered Daisy's similar powers.

"That's not gonna work!" she called out.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man shot out a bunch of his white goo at Toad, effectively capturing him and Wanda made a move on Avalanche getting into his mind to incapacitate him. Unfortunately, Pyro burned off the webbing from his friend using the flamethrower on his back earning himself a few angry yelps as the heat wasn't exclusive to the restraints. The frog-like mutant got himself together soon enough and spat towards Peter.

"Now that's what's gross!" Spidey cried out in surprise as the saliva stuck one of his hands to the wall behind him.

The Black Widow, realizing the problem, shot a few rounds into the backpack thus releasing the gases that Pyro used to ignite the fire. Ed then quickly put out the remaining flames out with a clap as she withdrew the oxygen from the air around it. She was pleased to find that after the last of the fire was gone too, the mutant wasn't able to generate new ones and that – just like Mustang's alchemy – he was only able to manipulate already burning flames.

With that out of the way – after finally yanking his hand off the wall – Spider-Man reapplied the binds to all three male mutants as the Fullmetal Alchemist made her move on Mystique again. Steve and Natasha kept watch over their prisoners while the Wanda and Peter went to help Edeline.

Catching the superhumanly agile mutant was not an easy feat. The alchemist tried to trap her by transmuting the floor, knocking her out with well-placed boulders that she made to grow out of the floor, tried close combat with her blade but the blue woman just kept evading her attacks. She couldn't land a single one on her. _Damn, she is fast!_

"Just give back the damn watch, and we are out of here, it only works on alchemical abilities!" the blonde called out in frustrated desperation. "I could really use your tricks right about now, Wanda!" Ed glanced over at the witch between two attacks.

"Sorry, my mind-manipulation doesn't work on her!" the brunette shouted back as she tried to throw the shapeshifter onto the wall with a telekinetic push but ultimately missed as she dodged it with a graceful backflip. To her misfortune though Spider-Man was counting on her to evade in that direction and caught her with his webbing, quickly wrapping her tightly up with a couple of more rounds of it.

"Nice one, Spidey!" the blonde commented out of breath from all the jumping around. "Now give it back!" she turned to Mystique after they approached her.

"Come and get it yourself!" Raven smirked all knowingly. The thought of reaching into another woman's bosoms made Ed blush furiously.

In the end, she didn't get the chance to retrieve her pocket watch though because just as she was reaching with her shaky hand towards Mystique, the warehouse doors busted open again, and a man in cape and helmet floated in. Ed was thrown against the wall by an unseen force by her metal limbs and was pinned to it in an awkward, stretched out position. She couldn't reach her right palm with her left – still mobile – hand to activate her transmutation circle that she knew she desperately needed in order to change the metals in her auto-mail as this was no doubt Magneto.

"I leave for a few days, and this is how I find you, Raven?" an old ominous voice came from under the helmet. "Captured and bound by a couple of little kids?"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SMALL, YOU MAGNET FREAK?!" Ed struggled against her invisible restraints. The reason for her outburst was only partially the perceived insult, she also used this as an opportunity to let the Professor know through the headpiece – if he didn't know already know – that Magneto has shown up.

"I don't think that's what he meant, Ed!" Wanda commented to her as she tried to telekinetically remove the helmet from the older mutant. This resulted in drawing Magneto's attention to her, who until this point seemed almost oblivious to the others in the room since he saw no threat in them.

"Magda?" the man exclaimed as he lay eyes on the young witch. "That can't be…" the sadness and desperation were evident in Erik's voice as he recalled his late wife but who most definitely would be older if she were alive than the teen he saw before himself.

"The name is Wanda, you jerk!" the witch tried to use his temporary distraction to accomplish her objective of removing his headpiece, but her attempt was shaken off with a wave of Magneto's hand as she slammed the girl against the wall with a metal table.

"That could only mean… you are Magda's daughter! My daughter! I thought you were dead!" the man came to the realization as the shock somewhat wore off his mind.

"WHAT?" Wanda cried out in panic. I mean, she knew the Maximoffs were only her adoptive parents but never in a million years would she have thought that Magneto was her biological father.

"I am your father, Wanda!" the old man confirmed the witch's fears.

"NOOOOO!" the girl screamed at the top of her lungs sending out a massive telekinetic shock wave subconsciously that knocked Magneto back in mid-air. Using this chance, Spider-Man yanked off his helmet with a well-placed web thread revealing a gray old man's face underneath.

"Erik, stop!" came the vocal and mental command at the same time from Charles as he was wheeled in by Ororo at just the right moment. The effect was instant, Ed dropped from her position on the wall, and she rubbed her joints that were stretched beyond their intended angle, especially her ports.

"Where is your twin brother?" Erik questioned sadly when he realized that speaking wasn't prohibited by his old friend.

"Dead," Wanda answered in a grim, curt tone, throwing daggers with her eyes.

"I see…" Magneto nodded slightly in understanding. "I would very much like you to join me, Wanda. Together we could lift the mutants to greatness."

"Never. I've had enough with one evil mastermind tricking me into doing their bidding," the witch answered turning around and stomping out of the warehouse, having had enough with this conversation.

Meanwhile, Ed got her silver pocket watch back from the blue woman, not giving a rat's ass anymore about the close personal contact. What she didn't notice though was that Mystique slowly absorbed Spider-Man's webs into her skin and freed herself right after. She quickly made a run for Magneto's helmet and threw it to him, who put it on with haste before Xavier could command him not to.

Free of the mind compulsion the two made their escape without turning back or caring about the other three mutants that they had left behind.

"Dammit!" Ed cursed out as she started to go after them.

"It's alright," Charles called after her, effectively stopping the blonde in her tracks. "We got what we came for, we will get them another time."

* * *

The mood in the Tower was heavy with the foreboding sense of goodbye. After getting her State credentials back and talking with Tony regarding the miniature arc reactor – which he gave her gladly – there wasn't really anything left but to say their farewells.

"What if this doesn't work?" Steve asked with worry etched in his features.

"Then there will be rebound, and I will probably just end up back here," the alchemist shrugged. "Maybe with a limb or two missing," she joked with an awkward laugh but stopped short when she saw that the Captain wasn't finding it humorous.

"It's too risky," Spider-Man said, and everyone was nodding in agreement.

"I'm sorry, but it's not your decision to make," the blonde stated with determination. "I have to go back."

Ed started to draw up the all too familiar human transmutation circle with chalk on the floor in the middle of the living area. _I have way too much routine with this!_ – she thought to herself as she drew.

"Okay, everyone, step back!" the alchemist instructed when she was finished so that no one else would be caught up in the array. Giving one last check that she had everything that was important – the pocket watch, arc reactor – she took a big breath and said her goodbye too. "Hope to not see you guys again!" Ed chuckled as she clapped and placed her hands on the circle.

The blue electric sparkles appeared around the array, and the alchemist vanished from everyone's sight.

* * *

"Well, well, _alchemist_ we meet again!" Truth smiled wickedly. "I assume you want to get back to your little brother," it stated mockingly. "What did you bring me _this_ time as a toll?"

"This," Ed held up the miniature arc reactor that Tony gave him, its eerie, light blue glow illuminating her face. "It's a nifty little thing as I understand. One of the greatest inventions in the world you sent me to in terms of energy sources. The Philosopher's Stone if you think about is just an energy source as well."

Truth burst out laughing uncontrollably, literally rolling on the floor – if you could call the great white nothingness they floated in a floor – _laughing_. At Ed. Which was seriously getting on her nerves, her brow twitching furiously.

"Ahhh…" Truth finally got himself together. "You haven't learned anything at all right?"

The blonde alchemist looked at the Gate Keeper, confused, having no idea what he could mean by that.

"I sent you to that world to broaden your perspective on the universe you live in. In which Amestris and your world is but a little speck of inconsequence in the greater scheme of things," it explained mockingly.

"One is all, all is one," Ed answered with the lesson she learned from her teacher all those years ago.

"Yes, that too," Truth smirked, waving her off dismissively. "But what I was implying that I wanted you to see the possibilities beyond alchemy… _science_ … things that you can't explain away. And what you come back with?" it mused rhetorically.

"If I didn't know better I would be inclined to think that you are _intentionally_ trying to piss me off," Truth continued with venom after a few seconds of silence with a heavy sigh. "I might just have to send you to another place to make sure you learn your lesson."

Without waiting for any kind of response, with a gesture of its hand the Gate opened again, the tiny black paws hauling her through as she screamed "YOU BASTARD!" at the top of her lungs.

* * *

Edeline woke up on a wet cobblestone pavement, rain drizzling slightly in her face. _At least I have everything I gained last time…_ – the alchemist thought as she looked herself over, being dressed in jeans, leather jacket, and her auto-mail arm still made of red colored titanium-gold alloy, so she assumed her leg was still upgraded too. Silver pocket watch in its rightful place but the mini arc reactor gone.

Taking in her environment, she knew at once that this was not a place she was familiar with, neither Amestris nor New York. Scrambling frantically for a newspaper around her to check for the date and location.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE _FUCKING_ KIDDING ME!" she yelled looking up at the sky when she saw that it was July 31st, 1996. And she was in London.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

 **A/N: So… Ed didn't make it back… I know… I'm evil… ~insert wicked laugh here~**

 **I will be doing a part 2 to this story so if I got you interested enough follow me to get an alert on it, not the story since I will be doing it as a separate story because it will be a different crossover.**

 **Whoever guesses first what I'm doing a crossover with will get a virtual cookie from me :)**

 **I already have some ideas for that, but the updates might come in a bit slower pace than this one.**

 **UPDATE: Part 2 now up under Fullmetal and the Boy Who Lived**

 **The epilogue and some omake chapters and are still coming in this one**


	17. Epilogue: Fallout

**A/N: Disclaimer: The views and comments of Deadpool do not reflect in any way, shape or form the views of the author. You have been warned!**

* * *

 _ **Epilogue: Fallout**_

* * *

On aboard of a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft currently on course for Portugal, all the sensors went haywire signaling a great surge of energy in New York right where the Avengers Tower was.

The pattern was all too familiar, and Agent Coulson just shared a look with Jemma Simmons.

"Do you think?" she asked tentatively. Ed arrived in this world in this exact same manner.

"Probably. I'll call Fury just to report anyway, but I'm sure he already knows."

He couldn't have been more wrong since no one from the Tower had remembered to forewarn the Director of the blonde's departure.

* * *

At the same time, in a café six blocks west of the Tower, Matt's head shot up. The air charged up with the pulsation that he knew was Ed's alchemy, but as far as he could tell she wasn't anywhere near him and the intensity of it was thousands greater than when she fixed his drinking glass. Now that he thought about it, he had felt something similar a little over a month ago too, although he didn't have any explanation for that at the time. Something massive was occurring but oddly enough it still only affected him based on the perplexed look Karen was giving him for his sudden tension. She was oblivious to it all, just like everyone else in the room.

A sense of dread overcame him for the alchemist who he hadn't seen for almost two weeks.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," Daredevil planted a chaste kiss on Karen's cheek as he left the money on the table to settle the tab before hurrying out the door towards home to change and head to the Tower to see if he could get some answers.

By the time he got a taxi the sensation had vanished as suddenly as it came, nonetheless, he told the driver to hurry.

* * *

Stephen Strange was sitting in his apartment, seemingly meditating when an odd knowing smile crept up on his face.

"I'm truly sorry you didn't heed my warning, Edeline," was all he said to himself before returning to his zen state, turning his attention back to the universe after the anomalies that Ed's departure caused in time and space settled down.

* * *

The blue electric sparkles of Edeline's transmutation died down. The Avengers and Spider-Man hadn't even realized that they had been holding their breath, preparing for the worst.

But nothing out of the ordinary happened. No purple light appeared that they would have expected of a failed human transmutation based on the anime. Neither was Ed back among them.

After a few minutes, they had no choice but to accept that they wouldn't be seeing the alchemist ever again.

"Do you guys think she made it back to Amestris alright?" Steve was the first to speak up.

"We have to assume that she did," Wanda looked at him anxiously. She and Spidey knew most about Ed's world from present company, having seen both anime multiple times, but even they didn't have definitive answers.

"Maybe Richards could track her down?" Cap suggested glancing at Spider-Man since he had directed Edeline to him in the first place.

"As far she told me, he wasn't much help besides the idea of the miniature arc reactor as a substitute for the Philosopher's Stone," the guy in the red-blue spandex shook his head. "I don't think he knows how to travel to her dimension, even to check if she made it."

Suddenly the Tower's alarm system went off.

* * *

In the lobby, Deadpool was trying to force open the elevator doors since because of the security breach they got shut down.

"Sir, I kindly ask you to refrain from damaging Stark property," F.R.I.D.A.Y. politely requested.

"Don't call me that!" he absentmindedly said to no one in particular while going through a number of poses to get a better footing and grip on the door.

"What shall I call you, Sir?" the perplexed AI mused.

"I don't know, Deadpool is fine," Wade smirked as he got his katanas out to try and slash door the down, sort of Wolverine style.

"If you stop trying to cut open the doors with those swords I shall call you 'Dope-ass-cool' and direct to you to Mr. Stark to state your business," the computer voice offered cheekily.

"Damn straight!" Deadpool perked up. "Now chop, chop, beam me up, Scotty!"

* * *

"Mr. Stark, it seems we have an intruder," the AI informed the superheroes currently occupying the living area. Then forwarded the elevator video feed to the TV screen in which a man around 6'2 tall, dressed in red-black leather spandex from head to toe, equipped with two katanas on his back and desert eagles on his utility belt could be seen. He was standing there with no care in the world, seemingly whistling an imaginary elevator music tune to himself, looking at his gloved hands as if checking his manicure.

"Oh dear god, why?" Spidey groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"You know him?" Stark inquired with a startled face. He was the only one not exactly ready for action since basically everyone else had just come back from the pocket watch retrieval mission and they had not yet had a chance to change. Well except Bruce, but he didn't exactly need any kind of equipment, and they really didn't want the other guy to feel the need to come and play anyway. In any case, a mobile Iron Man suit could get to their floor in less than thirty seconds if they did end up fighting.

"That's Deadpool, Ed and I ran into him a couple of weeks ago by accident. I have no idea what he wants now," Spider-Man threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Sir, I redirected the elevator to your current floor," the mechanic computer voice announced helpfully, right before the bing signaling its arrival rang through the room.

The merc strode in purposefully, then when he spotted the gathering, he gave a comical gasp in Edvard Munch's Scream style.

"There was a superhero party, and no one invited me?" Deadpool chided in fake indignation.

"What do you want, Wade?" the guy in the red-blue spandex spoke first. The others were still too much in shock over his extravagant behavior.

"Is this any way to speak to your buddy, Spidey?" he skipped over childishly where the other guy was standing putting his arm around his shoulder with too much familiarity for Spider-Man's liking.

"What do you want, Wade?" Peter repeated with even less patience, peeling the other man's arm off of himself.

"Is the little transgender midget here?" the merc asked with a chipper voice unaffected by the less than friendly reception.

"Who?" all the Avengers asked almost simultaneously in confusion at that description.

"Ed," Deadpool glanced at them then back down on his red-blue spandexed buddy.

"Why…?" Spidey inquired uneasily.

"I want her to fix my sexy ass with the Philosopher's Stone," the red-black clad man stated as a matter of fact, very pleased with himself for coming up with that idea.

"Why do you think she would be able to do that?" Peter questioned further with trepidation.

"I binge watched Fullmetal Alchemist and saw that they could do all sorts of freaky healing shit with that little red gem," the merc rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Wade… she can't," Spider-Man tried to let him down carefully.

"What, why?" Deadpool snapped his head up looking at everyone for answers.

"First of all, she doesn't have a Philosopher's Stone. Two, even if she had one, she wouldn't use it. Three, she is not here," Wanda stepped in to answer, outraged by the suggestion.

"Okay, tell me where she is," Wade pushed on, unrelenting, ignoring the other obviously disqualifying factors.

"God, you are like cockroaches… everywhere and impossible to get rid of," Natasha sighed exasperatedly.

"I think you are thinking of bedbugs. Would you care to get in bed and get bitten by this love bug?" he wiggled his brows suggestively at her.

"Ew. You are gross!" Wanda voiced her indignation instead of the assassin who just shot a death glare at the merc, which by some miracle made him shut up long enough for Peter to step in before that line of conversation could get out of hand.

"She went home, as in back to Amestris home," Spidey uneasily glanced towards the human transmutation circle drawn on the floor. Deadpool followed his line of sight and made a run for it, weaving between the Avengers at high speed to get to it.

"Wait!" they all yelled at him.

"Geronimo!" the merc exclaim as he jumped stomach first onto the array. Nothing happened, and everyone else released a breath of relief.

"Fuck, shit!" the merc stood up from the circle disgruntled and stomped a few times. Everyone else was reaching for their weapons in case the intruder started a rampage in his fury. "Now my suit is all covered in chalk!"

* * *

Spidey left the Tower soon after they successfully ushered the merc out, but it was already past midnight. Somehow the Avengers were able to get it through his thick skull that there was nothing he could do to get to Ed. Wanda tried planting it in his head through her powers to speed the process up, but it didn't stick. At the end the merc waved fondly at Nat, commenting about thinking of her when he went home to his unicorn, whatever that meant.

In the middle of all that, Stark got an angry phone call from Fury, inquiring about Ed's whereabouts and the lack of communication of her intentions to leave but the Director too had to conclude that there was nothing he could do now post fact.

As Peter swung to the next building over he spotted another masked vigilante who seemed to have been watching the Tower before turning his attention to the whooshing sound Spider-Man's webbing made.

"Hey, can I help you?" Peter decided to swing towards him carefully.

"Are you a friend of Edeline's?" Daredevil inquired just as the young man arrived by his side.

"She sure is popular today…" Spidey muttered under his breath. "Sorry, man, you won't be able to speak with her, Ed returned home today," he wasn't sure what this guy knew of Ed, so he carefully didn't mention Amestris.

 _Oh, that explains it._ – Matt thought to himself. He could imagine the magnitude of transmutation it would have required to cross over to Amestris. The first one must have been when she arrived. "Thanks for the info," he nodded to Spider-Man and left without another word, jumping over to the next building with great agility.

"What an odd fellow," Peter shook his head in bemusement and shot his web to the high rise across the street to head home.

Soon it was as if the Fullmetal Alchemist had never been in their world, lest the odd thought or two that sometimes appeared in her friend's minds, wondering whether she was alright.


	18. Omake: Horsing around

_**Omake: Horsing around**_

* * *

"So, wait a minute!" Ed exclaimed with wide-eyed surprise. "You are telling me that mustangs are a type of wild horse here in America?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Steve peered up from his morning newspaper, on one of the pages of which there was an article regarding said animals and their dwindling habitat that had caught Edeline's attention.

The little alchemist began snickering to herself, thoroughly enjoying a private joke.

"Oh, right, your CO's name," Captain America smiled a bit, knowing their youngest member's relation and attitude toward a certain colonel.

"That's not all!" Tony chimed in. "Mustang is also a brand of cars. I have one in the garage, want to see?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the blonde waved him off disinterested.

"Hey! It's a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R! Don't brush it off like that!" the billionaire cried out indignantly.

"Save it for someone who actually cares about that stuff," Ed grunted then turned back to Steve. "So do you guys have any horse related jokes or idioms?"

"What are you planning?" Steve glanced at her warily. He knew all too well how her mind worked.

"Nothing particularly…" she trailed off scratching her chin, looking away.

"You are going to pester him to no end with this after you get back, aren't you?" the super soldier concluded with an admonishing tone.

"The funniest part will be that he won't know why!" Ed laughed out finally, unable to keep her glee in.

Steve just sighed in defeat, but Stark seemed to get on a roll with this.

"Hold your horses, for one," he started listing. "Meaning to wait or be patient."

"That's a good one!" the alchemist perked up. She didn't need to write them down, her memory was all too keen to hold onto anything that could annoy Roy.

"Get off your high horse…" Tony continued leaning forward in his sitting position as he tried to recall more.

"That's pretty self-explanatory. And given the bastard's usual arrogant demeanor, I feel like I can use that a lot!" the blonde snickered further.

"Flog or beat a dead horse, meaning keeping on fighting when an argument was already won," Steve decided to join in on the suggestions with a sigh.

"Bet on the wrong horse – to misread the future, to not choose the winning person or solution."

"Strong as a horse."

"Stubborn as a mule."

"Pony show."

"What's supposed to mean?" Ed cut in at the last one.

"Something that you disapprove of because you think that it has only been organized to impress you," Steve clarified.

"Eat like a horse," Stark continued without paying much attention.

"Eat messily or a lot?" Ed asked with thorough interest, flopping down beside Tony on the couch since he seemed like the one more into the game of 'coming up with ways to annoy a random figure of authority he didn't even know personally.' She never would have thought there were so many glorious ways to piss off the Colonel. Ed knew that at one point, or another Mustang would lose his shit and ask her about all these horse innuendoes. She could already imagine his exasperated face when she unveiled the reason.

"A lot," Iron Man commented, not really paying attention, thinking already about the next one.

"Chomp at the bit - being ready and anxious to do something," Steve looked up again with a roll of his eye, but in the end, he couldn't resist either.

"How is that horse related?" the blond girl inquired again.

"A bit is put into a horse's mouth for control of the horse," Captain America smiled at her. "But I thought you grew up in the countryside."

"We didn't have horses, I don't know much about horse tack," Ed shrugged, but now she wished she actually knew more about horses… this would have been much more fun.

"Dark horse – a candidate who is little known to the general public," Stark continued to show off his skills in coming up with idioms.

"What are we doing, guys?" Barton stepped into the room, seemingly coming from the gym since he was wearing slacks and a towel around his neck.

"Coming up with horse-related sayings for Ed to get on the nerves of Colonel Mustang back home," Tony grinned at him.

"So basically you are horsing around," Hawkeye laughed as he took a seat beside them.

"Clever!" Stark snapped his fingers at him. The motion made Ed snicker again, much to Iron Man's confusion.

"Mustang's signature move… You know he is the Flame Alchemist. He uses a glove made of ignition cloth to make a spark that he controls by adjusting the oxygen molecules in the air by alchemy," Ed explained between bouts of giggle fits, during this Wanda showed up from somewhere without the alchemist noticing her.

"Oh, snap, snap, spark, spark…" the brunette began lamely rapping, imitating the song they heard not two weeks ago, but it sent Ed cracking up, doubling over with shrieking laughter. Taking this opening, Wanda sat down beside her.

"Please… please… don't… I'm gonna die," she pleaded as she tried to keep herself under control.

"I think it's time to put this topic out to pasture," Clint offered with amusement.

"Nah, even wild horses couldn't drag us away," Tony sniggered.

Meanwhile, Ed was still laughing hysterically, much to everyone's entertainment.

"It would be horse sense to stop now, I mean she can hardly breathe," Steve chimed in trying to cover the grin that was on his face with his hand.

"A horse of a different color, where is Tasha?" Tony looked around, but the redhead was nowhere to be seen.

"Hoofing it on the treadmill still," Barton informed him with a pleased smirk at coming up with another one.

"Please stop!" Ed shrieked so uncharacteristically of her, now tears streaming down her face because of laughing so hard as she lied on the couch with her head in Wanda's lap.

"Are we changing horses in midstream?" Steve chimed in again.

"Lunch would be a great idea. Stew?" Wanda offered, taking pity on her friend curled up beside her.

"On it. Although you guys should come up with something else right about now. I'm not a one-trick pony," Hawkeye got up to go to the kitchen to make Ed's favorite and the most requested dish among the inhabitants of the Tower.


	19. Omake: Mystery of the shield

_**Omake: Mystery of the shield**_

* * *

"Hey, guys, have any of you seen my shield?" Rogers trotted into the living area where most of the Avengers were just getting ready for lunch. Hawkeye was cooking merrily, Wanda was reading a book, while Stark was tinkering with something on his tablet. He didn't see Ed, but he assumed she was still sleeping, given that she had been out late. Nat and Bruce were absent too but given their relationship drama over the last few months they were probably trying to reconcile in one way or another. Most likely among bedsheets. Steve heartily believed it wasn't any of his business, so he stayed out of it.

"How could you lose it?" Tony glanced up in dismay. "That's made out of the most valuable and rarest metal on Earth!"

"I know!" Cap cried out in panic.

"Not to mention that shield is S.H.I.E.L.D. property." Iron Man added. "Wow, what a weird sentence. Although technically that's just the government now," he muttered to himself distractedly.

"Not helping, Tony!" Steve shot him an unamused glare.

"It's not in your room?" Hawkeye turned towards them.

"No! I was sure I left it there yesterday, but now it's gone. I looked everywhere," he buried his head in his hands.

"Have you checked the armory?" Wanda suggested helpfully, trying to look unaware and innocent. To tell the truth, she knew precisely where the vibranium shield was. She had seen Ed sneak off with it early in the morning towards Tony's workshop. While no one was looking with a small flick of her fingers, she planted the idea in Steve's head that he must have been mistaken about leaving it in his room and it surely couldn't be in the labs to keep him from checking there for another few hours.

"No, but great idea! Thanks!" Captain America said as he made his way to the elevator to take him three floors down to the weapons storage.

The Scarlet Witch tried really hard to keep the mischievous smile off of her face but failed miserably. She didn't notice, but Tony was eyeing her suspiciously.

* * *

 _Earlier that morning…_

"I cannot let you in there Miss Ed, F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned Edeline as she approached the automatic doors leading to the workshop with Steve's shield in her hand.

"Do you want me to fry your circuits in the server room?" the alchemist glanced up for a second, then continued when no answer came. "That's what I thought."

The door opened without a problem.

A few hours later the blonde was still examining the red-blue star-spangled concave disc, thoroughly perplexed by its properties.

"I have never seen a metal like this," she mumbled to herself in concentration as she handled the two and a half feet diameter object, turning it around to see it from all angles then throwing at the wall, watching the way it bounced back before catching it with her auto-mail.

"Miss Ed, I ought to notify Mr. Stark of the security breach to his lab. He will be most unhappy to learn that you are down here without his permission," the AI came in nervously through the speakers in the room again.

"I think we have already established that Tony can't do a thing about me being down here even in his Iron Man suit, so that is a moot point," Fullmetal frowned but not breaking her concentration from the task on her hands.

"Also Mr. Rogers is looking for his possession to be returned," the computer voice insisted.

"Steve will get it back, don't worry. I just want to see what this is. You could help speed this up by scanning it and putting the specs up on the holoprojector," the alchemist suggested wryly.

"Mr. Stark had already done extensive analysis on the shield. Shall I put that up as well?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. offered reluctantly.

"Why didn't you start with that?!" the blonde cried out.

The properties of the object just made absolutely no sense based on Ed's knowledge of metals. It absorbed all vibrations and a great deal of kinetic energy from impacts because of its vibranium component. It's able to slice through the air with minimal wind resistance and deflection of path. Great overall resilience, combined with its natural concentric stiffness, enables it to rebound from objects with minimal loss of angular momentum. Pretty much virtually indestructible: it is resistant to penetration, temperature extremes, and the entire electromagnetic spectrum of radiation.

The alchemist had never heard of vibranium, a rare, naturally occurring meteoric ore with energy manipulating qualities, the main component of the alloy used in the making of the shield. After studying the physical and molecular makeup of it, Ed concluded that there must be some information missing on how it was actually made because there was no way that metal could bond with steel the way it did. Without alchemy that is. _Dr. Myron MacLain… just how in the world were you able to pull this off?_

 _Maybe if I just tried transmuting it?_ She really wanted to try it, her curiosity getting the better of her. _No one would notice, right?_

Ed thought of a slightly modified array that she usually used for transmuting metals. Just as she clapped her hands together and reached for the discus, Tony burst into the room with Steve in tow.

"Stop! Don't do it! The only way that can be damaged in any way is by tampering with its molecular bonding!" Stark exclaimed frantically.

The alchemist let her hands down, releasing the alchemic circle and energy build up from her mind.

"Sorry?" she shrugged as she handed back the shield to Captain America.

"What were you thinking?" the two men chided at the same time, making them look at each other with surprise. For once they agreed on something.

"You realize that no one has been able to recreate proto-adamantium, which this is made of?" Tony continued his tirade. "And who the hell let you in here?"

"I did, Sir," the AI admitted to it with a guilty sounding synthetic voice.

"To her defense, I did threaten to fry her circuits," Ed cut in. "But I think I am able to recreate it through alchemy if I could get my hands on vibranium."

"Let's not try that on the original, shall we?" Cap pleaded in pure horror. He was really attached to that shield.

"Fine," she relented with a huff like a petulant child.

Stark didn't comment further. Instead, he was already researching the exact source of the ore to procure some. Preferably before Ed returned to Amestris, which they didn't exactly have a timeline on.


	20. Omake: Girl talk

**A/N: So I binge watched all the MCU movies a week ago… realized some significant discrepancies in my story, so did some rewrite, mostly regarding J.A.R.V.I.S., and replacing it with F.R.I.D.A.Y., and also some comments here and there between the Avengers that hint at the rest of the team who are not present in this storyline. And then had the idea of this omake…**

* * *

 _ **Omake: Girl talk**_

* * *

"No, not a chance! Get that away from me!" Edeline protested loudly at Wanda.

"Come on, it's a great color, vibrant red. Goes well with your auto-mail," the Scarlet Witch insisted with a small bottle of nail polish in hand.

"When you said you wanted a girl's night in, I didn't think you meant _this_!" the alchemist cried out in horror, already looking for exists. "Not to mention no one outside this Tower will ever see it."

But alas, if the brunette put her mind to something she got her way in the end. Just look at exhibit A of the AnimeCon incident. Or countless others the short blonde couldn't even think of at the spur of the moment.

So there was the sixteen-year-old girl, grumbling as she sat in the armchair in Wanda's room, getting the first manicure and nail job of her life done.

"So… you were gone for a couple of days," Ed grudgingly remarked, trying to find something to take her mind off of her suffering.

"Yeah, I went up to the other Avengers facility in upstate New York," she mentioned nonchalantly, but something in her expression made the other girl question further.

"If I remember correctly, there are some other Avengers I never met, right? What are they like?" the blonde inquired, genuinely interested.

"Yeah, well, there is Rhodey, the Warmachine, he has a suit similar to Tony's, but is usually busy with military stuff since he is a Colonel with the US Air Force," Wanda listed, not breaking her concentration from the fine art of nail painting.

"Then there is Sam – aka Falcon – he has a backpack gear that wings come out of and some other cool gadgets. He is stationed at the facility as security most of the time when not on a mission," the brunette continued.

"And… the Vision," she glanced up with a sigh but didn't elaborate, which made Ed wonder. "And of course, Thor, the God of Thunder from the Norse mythology, but he is back in Asgard at the moment."

"Yeah, I read about those, most of it is hard to believe, religious mumbo-jumbo. But let's just back up for a minute. Vision?" Ed smirked. This was more of Al's area of expertise, but if her gut was right just now, Wanda liked this guy.

The Scarlet Witch put the nail polish down and a second of hesitation later spoke again. "How much do you know about what happened with Ultron and Sokovia?"

"Whatever I could find from news clippings on the internet," the alchemist stated, unsure where this was going exactly.

"The Vision is a powerful, synthetic being born from a Vibranium-laced body created by Ultron and Helen Cho, and programmed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner using J.A.R.V.I.S.-based codes, and activated by the Mind Stone that was hidden inside Loki's Scepter," the brunette explained quickly in one breath.

"Okay, okay, you lost me there. J.A.R.V.I.S.?" she raised a brow questioningly.

"The AI that ran the place before F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Wanda clarified, waving her hand around to emphasize.

Edeline would have wanted to ask about that Mind Stone and Scepter, but decided to focus on her friend and the subject that seemed of relevance to her for now.

"So he is a machine, a robot?" the alchemist mused. She couldn't really imagine it, this was way beyond any technical knowledge she was able to pick up from this world so far.

"Not exactly, but he also isn't fully human. It's a bit hard to explain. He is more than just his programming. He has original thoughts, capable of emotions," the witch rambled on passionately.

"And you like him," Ed dared to point out. It was pretty obvious, even for someone like her.

"What? No! What are you talking about?" Wanda vehemently objected, but her voice was just a tad too high for it to be believable.

"Mmhmm… Right, if you say so," the blonde laughed out with a knowing look on her face.

"Alright!" the Scarlet Witch huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Let's talk about Winry if you are so insistent on going there!"

"W-what does Winry have to do with this?" Fullmetal couldn't help but repeat herself, a sense of déjà vu hitting her, their talk after the library coming to mind. "We are childhood friends, I love her like family."

"Oh, she will be your family alright," was all that the brunette muttered under her breath as she snatched Ed's left hand back into hers to continue applying that shade of red to her nails that now went so well with the blush on the alchemist's face too.


End file.
